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THE RAINBOW CAT 


ROSE FYLEMAN 



By ROSE FYLEMAN 


VERSE 

Fairies and Chimneys 
The Fairy Green 
The Fairy Flute 

TALES 

The Rainbow Cat 




The RAINBOW CAT 


BY 

ROSE FYLEMAN 

•I 


Illustrated by 

THELMA CUDLIPP GROSVENOR 



NEW YORK 

GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 









COPYRIGHT, 1923, 

BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 




THE RAINBOW CAT. I 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

NOV 30 ^3 

©C1A7G6127 


TA& \ 



CONTENTS 


PAGE 

one: The First Adventure of the Rainbow Cat . n 

two: The Princess Who Could Not Cry ... 19 

three: The Prince and the Baker’s Daughter . . 27 

four: Why Pigs Have Curly Tails.36 

five: The Second Adventure of the Rainbow Cat 42 

six: Mellidora.49 

seven: The Clock.55 

eight: The Moon.60 

nine: The Third Adventure of the Rainbow Cat 63 

ten: Almond Blossom.76 

eleven: The Rondel.79 

twelve: Jan and the Magic Pencil.89 

thirteen: The Lamb That Went to Fairyland . . 99 

fourteen: The Magic Umbrella.103 

fifteen: The Fourth Adventure of the Rainbow Cat 109 




























ILLUSTRATIONS 


TO HIS GREAT ASTONISHMENT, HE SAW NO GIANTESS, BUT 
A VERY NASTY-LOOKING OLD WIZARD WITH A LONG GREY 
BEARD AND AN ENORMOUSLY TALL HAT, WHO SAT IN A 
LARGE ROOM IN FRONT OF A GREAT OPEN FIRE Frontispiece 

PAGE 


HE RODE AWAY ON HIS WHITE HORSE AND TURNED TO 
WAVE HIS HAND TO HIS MOTHER AND FATHER BEFORE 
HE WENT OVER THE HILL-TOP.32 

SHE PULLED A TINY DANDELION-CLOCK FROM HER POCKET 

AND BEGAN TO BLOW AND TO COUNT. 58 

“IF YOU WILL MARRY ME,” HE SAID, “i WILL SPEND MY 

DAYS MAKING VERSES ABOUT YOU”. 84 





THE RAINBOW CAT 



THE RAINBOW CAT 


ONE 

The First Adventure of the Rainbow Cat 

T HERE was once a cat which was not in the 
least like any cat you have ever seen, or I 
either, for the matter of that. It was a fairy cat, 
you see, and so you would rather expect it to be 
different, wouldn’t you? It had a violet nose, 
indigo eyes, pale blue ears, green front legs, a 
yellow body, orange back legs and a red tail. In 
fact, it was coloured with all the colours of the 
rainbow, and on that account it was known as 
the Rainbow Cat. 

It lived, of course, in Fairyland, and it had all 
sorts of strange adventures. I am going to tell 
you some of them, and I think you will agree 
with me that it really had a very thrilling time, 
one way or another. 

This is the first. 

The Rainbow Cat was sitting quietly at the 
door of his house one sunny day. He felt rather 

in] 


The Rainbow Cat 

bored. Fairyland had been very quiet lately. “I 
think it’s time I set out on a voyage of adven¬ 
ture/’ he said suddenly. “I shall get fat and 
stupid if I don’t do something of the sort.” So 
he shut up his house, put a notice on the door to 
say that he hoped to be back some day, if not 
sooner, and that letters and parcels were to be 
thrown down the chimney, and started off on his 
journey with a nice little wallet of assorted odd¬ 
ments tied to his tail, together with a neat parcel 
containing his party bow and his dancing-slip¬ 
pers. “For one never knows,” said the Rainbow 
Cat, “whom one may meet, and it is always well 
to be prepared for anything.” 

He went on and on until he came to the edge of 
Fairyland, where the clouds begin. 

“I may as well pay the cloud-folk a visit,” 
thought he, and he began climbing up the clouds. 

The people who live in the clouds are quite 
pleasant creatures. They don’t do very much, but 
being idle doesn’t seem to make them unhappy. 
They live in splendid cloud-palaces that are even 
more beautiful on the side which can’t be seen 
from earth than on the side which can. 

Often one may see them drifting across the 
sky in companies, or driving their pearly chariots, 
or sailing in their light boats. They live on air, 
and the only thing they are really afraid of is the 
Thunder Giant, who, when he gets angry—which 

[12] 


The First Adventure 


he rather often does—goes stamping over the sky, 
shouting and knocking their houses about. 

They greeted the Rainbow Cat kindly and were 
pleased to see him, for he was an old friend and 
they were always glad to welcome visitors from 
Fairyland. 

“You have come just at the right moment,” 
they said. “There is a grand party at the 



Weather Clerk’s. His eldest son, the North 
Wind, is to be married to-day to Princess Pearl, 
the daughter of the King of the Enchanted Isles.” 

The Rainbow Cat was pleased that he had 
brought his party bow and his best shoes. His 
bag of oddments might also come in useful, he 
thought. 

It was a wonderful wedding. 

[ 13 ] 



The Rainbow Cat 


Everybody went. Among the guests there 
was even a comet, and comets attend none but 
the smartest gatherings. 

The Aurora Borealis looked magnificent, so 
did the bride’s father, the King of the Enchanted 
Isles, who was there with his lovely wife, 
Mother o’ Pearl. 

There were one or two Bores present who had 
to be asked because they were connected with 
somebody or other, and another aged relation, 
Anti Cyclone, a most disagreeable old lady; but 
on the whole it was a charming affair. 

Just as the merriment was at its height and 
they were all happily feasting and rejoicing, a 
friendly swallow came flying in with the news 
that the Thunder Giant was tearing across the 
sky in a terrible rage because a passing Trade 
Wind, who was in a hurry, had trodden on his 
toe. 

“What shall we do?” said every one. “He’ll 
spoil the party. He’ll upset everything.” And 
they all ran about in great confusion and distress. 

But the Rainbow Cat remained quite calm. 
He was a very resourceful creature. 

He retired under a table and opened his little 
bag and examined its contents, thinking hard all 
the time. 

Presently he came out. 

“I think I can manage the Thunder Giant,” he 

[14] 


The First Adventure 


said. “Pray go on with the party. I will go and 
meet him and see what can be done.” 

They were all greatly astonished at his courage 
and coolness, but they were delighted to think that 
their party might not be spoiled after all, and they 
crowded round to watch him go sailing off to 
meet the giant, whose shoutings and mutterings 
could by this time be clearly heard in the distance. 

When the Rainbow Cat had gone some way 
and could already see the giant from afar, he 
stopped, opened his bag, and drew out a large 
black cloak. This he put on, pulling the hood 
well over his ears. He then sat down and 
appeared to be lost in deep thought. 

When the Thunder Giant came up he stood 
still for a moment to look at this strange object 
all alone in the middle of the sky. 

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” 
he roared. 

“Pm the celebrated wizard Mewpus,” replied 
the cat in a very deep and impressive voice. 
“Mind my bag, there’s black magic in it. I have 
heard of you, O great Thunder Giant.” And he 
got up and bowed three times. 

The giant felt rather flattered, but he was still 
very cross and his foot hurt. 

“I don’t think much of wizards,” he said. 
“What can you do?” 


[15] 


The Rainbow Cat 

“I can tell your thoughts, O Giant/’ was the 
reply. 

“Oho!” laughed the giant, “and pray what am 
I thinking at this moment, Mr. Mewpus?” 

“That is quite easy,” said the Rainbow Cat. 
“You are thinking how your foot is hurting you, 
and how you would like to get hold of the person 
who trod on your corns.” For the cat had heard 
all this from the swallow. 

The giant was astonished. 

“You’re a rather wonderful fellow,” he said. 
“It must be useful to be able to do that. Can’t 
you teach me?” 

“I dare say I might be able to,” said the Rain¬ 
bow Cat. “I’ll see if you show any promise. Sit 
down, please.” 

The giant sat down and the Rainbow Cat 
walked three times round him, muttering to 
himself. 

“Now, tell me what I am thinking,” said he 
when he had done. 

The Thunder Giant sat looking at him rather 
stupidly. He wasn’t a very clever person. 

“I suppose you’re thinking what a fool I look, 
sitting here,” he said. 

“Wonderful—wonderful,” said the cat. “You 
show immense promise, sir. I have never had 
such an apt pupil.” 

[16] 


The First Adventure 


“May I try again?” said the giant, who began 
to think himself very clever. 

“Certainly,” said the Rainbow Cat. “What 
am I thinking of now?” 

The giant tried to put on a very wise look 
and stared again at the Rainbow Cat with his 
stupid little eyes. 

“Beefsteak and onions,” he said suddenly. 

The Rainbow Cat fell back and pretended to 
be lost in admiration. 

“Perfectly right,” he said. “How did you 
guess such a thing?” 

“Oh, it just came into my mind,” said the 
giant modestly. 

“You know,” said the cat seriously, “you ought 
to cultivate this gift. It’s most unusual.” 

“How can I do it?” said the giant eagerly, for 
he thought it would be very delightful to be able 
to read people’s thoughts. Which shows how 
stupid he was. 

“Go home,” said the cat, “and lie down for a 
couple of hours. Then take these three little pink 
comfits and lie down for another couple of hours. 
After that you may get up and have a cup of tea. 
But keep very quiet. Before going to bed eat this 
other little white comfit, and when you wake up 
in the morning you will be able to read people’s 
thoughts.” 


[17] 


The Rainbow Cat 


The giant was all impatience to be gone, but he 
did not quite forget his manners. 

“I am very much obliged to you/’ he said. 
“Can’t I do anything for you in exchange, Pro¬ 
fessor Mewpus?” 

The Rainbow Cat pondered for a moment. 

“I should like a bit of lightning,” he said, “a 
nice jumpy bit.” 

The giant put his hand in his pocket. “Here’s 
a bundle of it,” he said. “If you cut the string 
you can have quite a jolly little display at any 
moment.” 

The Rainbow Cat thanked him, and they 
parted most amicably. 

The giant went back to his castle and did as 
he had been told. Ever since that day he believes 
he knows what people are thinking. This makes 
him feel very superior and it really doesn’t do 
any one else any harm. 

The Rainbow Cat returned to the party with 
the bundle of lightning stowed carefully away in 
his bag. Every one was most grateful for what 
he had done, and he was quite overwhelmed with 
attentions. He enjoyed himself very much in 
Cloud-land, and stayed for seven days. At the 
end of that time he packed up his little bag and 
set off once more on his travels, and you shall 
presently hear what next befell him. 


[18] 


TWO 


The Princess Who Could Not Cry 

T HERE was once a little princess who could 
not cry. 

That wouldn’t have mattered so very much, but 
the trouble was that she laughed at everything, 
often on the most unsuitable occasions, and this 
was an extremely vexing and awkward habit, 
especially for a princess. 

Her parents were very troubled about it, and 
they called in a wise old fairy in order to get her 
advice. She went into the matter thoroughly, and 
finally told them that if the princess could only 
once be made to cry, the spell would be broken for 
ever and she would thenceforward be just like 
other people. 

This wasn’t particularly helpful, but it gave 
them some hope, and they immediately set about 
the task of making the princess weep. Of course 
it was a rather difficult matter, because naturally 
they didn’t want her to be really miserable, and 
they hardly knew how to begin. Finally they 
ofifered a reward of five hundred crowns to 
anybody who should succeed in making their 
daughter cry without doing her any harm. 

[19] 


The Rainbow Cat 


Wise men came from all over the kingdom to 
see what they could do, and many things were 
tried, but all to no purpose. 

One of them suggested that she should be shut 
up in a room by herself and fed on bread and 
water for a whole week. The queen thought this 
very cruel, but the king persuaded her to try it. 
She insisted, however, that at any rate it should 
be bread and milk. But every time they came to 
bring the princess her basin of bread and milk 
they found her laughing, and at the end of the 
week she was still as cheerful as ever. 

“Look,” she said, “my feet have grown so thin 
that I can’t keep my slippers on.” And she kicked 
her foot into the air and sent her slipper flying 
across the room, and laughed to see the scandal¬ 
ised face of the butler. 

But her mother burst into tears. “My poor 
starved lamb,” she said, “they shall not treat you 
so any longer.” And she rushed into the kitchen 
and ordered soup and chicken and pink jelly to be 
sent up to the princess for her next meal. 

Another wise man came who said that for six 
months he had been practising pulling the most 
awful faces and making the most terrible noises 
imaginable, in order to be able to cure the princess. 
Children, he said, were so frightened by him that 
they had to be carried shrieking and howling 
from the room, and even grown-up people were 

[20] 


Princess Who Could Not Cry 

so terrified that they wept aloud. He requested 
that he might be left alone with the princess; but 
the queen waited outside the door and listened. 

She trembled with anxiety as she stood there, 
for the noises the wise man made were so blood¬ 
curdling that she could hardly bear to hear them 
herself, and it seemed dreadful that her child 



should be left alone to endure such a trial. But 
in a few minutes she heard peals of laughter com¬ 
ing from inside the room, and presently the wise 
man opened the door. He was quite done up, and 
blue in the face, with the efforts he had been 
making. “It’s no use,” he said rather crossly. 
“No use at all,” and went away looking much 
annoyed. 

The princess came running out to her mother. 

[ 21 ] 












The Rainbow Cat 


“Oh, he was a funny man,” she said. “Can’t 
he come and do it again?” 

Another wise man suggested that all her 
favourite toys should be broken up. But when 
he went into the nursery and began smashing her 
beautiful dolls and playthings, the princess 
clapped her hands and jumped about and laughed 
more heartily than ever. 

“What fun, what fun,” she said, and she too 
began throwing the things about. So that plan 
had to be given up also. 

Other wise men came, but as many of their 
suggestions were cruel and unkind ones, natu¬ 
rally the king and queen would not hear of them, 
and at last they began to fear that nothing could 
be done. 

Now in a small village on the borders of the 
king’s great park, there lived a widow with her 
little daughter Marigold. 

They were very poor, and the mother earned 
what she could by doing odd jobs of washing, 
sewing, or cleaning for her neighbours. But 
she fell ill, and poor Marigold was in great 
trouble, for she had no money to buy comforts 
for her mother. 

Their little savings had to go for food to keep 
them alive, and every day these grew less and less. 

Marigold knew all about the little princess at 
the castle. She had often heard speak of her, and 

[ 22 ] 


Princess Who Could Not Cry 

had even seen her sometimes riding about the 
roads on her white pony. And one day as she 
was cooking the midday meal an idea came into 
her head. 

As soon as dinner was over, she put on her hat 
and cloak and told her mother that she was going 
up to the king’s palace to see if she could make 
the princess cry and so earn the five hundred 
crowns. 

Her mother did her best to persuade her not 
to go. 

“How can you hope to succeed,” she said, “when 
so many clever people have tried and failed? You 
are my own dear little Marigold, but it is useless 
for you to attempt such a task. Give it up, my 
child.” 

But Marigold was determined, and when her 
mother saw this she said no more, but lay and 
watched her rather sadly as she set bravely off 
for the castle with her little basket over her arm. 

When Marigold came to the castle gates she 
felt frightened. The gates were so big and she 
was so small. But she thought of her mother and 
of the five hundred crowns which would buy her 
everything she needed, and she stood on tiptoe on 
the top step and pulled the bell handle so hard that 
she was quite frightened at the noise it made. 

A very grand footman opened the door, and 
when he saw Marigold standing there in her 

[23] 


The Rainbow Cat 


woollen frock and cloak with her little basket, he 
said, “Back entrance!” in a loud, cross voice, and 
shut the door in her face. 

So she went round to the back entrance. This 
time the door was opened by a red-faced kitchen- 
maid. “We’ve no dripping to give away to-day,” 
she said, and she too was about to shut the door. 

But the queen happened to be in the kitchen 
giving her orders for the day, and she saw Mari¬ 
gold through the window. She came to the 
window and called to her. 

“What is it, my child?” she asked, for Mari¬ 
gold stood there looking the picture of unhap¬ 
piness. 

“I’ve come to make the princess cry, please 
your Majesty,” she said, and made a curtsey, for 
the queen looked very magnificent with her crown 
on her head and her lovely ermine train held up 
over her arm to keep it off the kitchen floor. 

When the queen heard what Marigold had 
come for, she smiled and shook her head, for how 
could a little country girl hope to do what so many 
wise men had been unable to accomplish? But 
Marigold was so earnest and so sure that she 
could make the princess cry that at last the queen 
promised to let her attempt it. 

“You won’t hurt her?” she said. But she 
smiled as she said it. Marigold had such a kind 

[24] 


Princess Who Could Not Cry 

little face; she did not look as if she could hurt 
any one. 

She was taken to the princess’s apartments, 
and the queen went with her into the nursery 
and introduced her to the princess and explained 
why she had come. 

The princess was delighted to see a nice little 
rosy-cheeked girl instead of the dull old men who 
so often came to visit her. The queen shut the 
door and left them alone together. 

By this time the news of the little village girl 
who had come to make the princess cry, had 
spread all over the palace; and presently a whole 
crowd of people were standing anxiously waiting 
outside the nursery door. 

“It's such nonsense,” said the Chamberlain to 
the Prime Minister. “A village child. I don’t 
suppose she’s ever been outside the village.” 

“Quite ridiculous,” whispered the ladies-in¬ 
waiting to the court pages. “Do you think she 
knows how to make a correct curtsey?” 

At last the king and queen could stand the sus¬ 
pense no longer. They quietly opened the door 
and peeped in. And what do you think they saw ? 
The princess, standing at the table in the middle 
of the room with Marigold’s basket in front of 
her, busily peeling onions as hard as she could go, 
while the tears streamed down her face all the 
while. She was crying at last! 

[25] 


The Rainbow Cat 


The king and queen rushed in and clasped her 
in their arms, onions and all. The ladies-in-wait¬ 
ing stood with their perfumed handkerchiefs 
pressed to their noses, the pages tittered, and the 
cook, who was standing at the bottom of the 
stairs, muttered to himself when he heard the 
news, '‘Well, / could have done that,” while the 
Prime Minister rushed about the room with his wig 
on one side and shook everybody violently by the 
hand, exclaiming, “Wonderful, wonderful! And 
so simple! We must get out a proclamation at once. 
Where are my spectacles? Where is my pen?” 

And so the princess was cured, and from that 
time she became like everybody else and cried 
when she was unhappy and laughed when she 
was glad, though I am pleased to say that she 
always laughed a great deal more than she cried. 

As for Marigold, she got her five hundred 
crowns, of course, and was able to give her 
mother everything she needed, so that she was 
soon quite well. The king and queen were most 
grateful, and often invited her up to the palace to 
play with their little daughter, and loaded her 
with presents. 

Because she was sweet and modest she didn’t 
get spoiled, but grew up charming, kind and 
beautiful. I did hear that in the end she married 
a king’s son and that they had an onion for their 
crest, but I’m not at all sure about that. 

[26] 


THREE 


The Prince and the Baker’s Daughter 

T HERE was once a prince who was very 
brave, good and handsome. He was quite 
young, too, and before he settled down to learning 
how to rule the kingdom which would one day be 
his, he was sent by his father out a-travelling into 
the world. 

The king gave his son a beautiful white horse 
and a bagful of big gold pieces, and told him to 
come back when the money was all spent. 

His mother made him a blue velvet mantle 
embroidered with silver, and she also gave him a 
hat with a blue feather in it. 

“I want my son to look nice when he goes out 
riding into the world,” she said. 

He rode away on his white horse and turned 
to wave his hand to his mother and father before 
he went over the hill-top. 

“How handsome he looks,” said his mother, 
wiping away a tear or two. 

“Well, that's nothing to cry about,” said his 
father, and blew his nose. Then they went back 
into the palace and continued ruling. 

[27] 


The Rainbow Cat 


The prince rode on and on. 

Wherever he went people were very nice to 
him, even when he got beyond the borders of his 
own kingdom where he was no longer known. 

It is not every day that a handsome prince 
comes riding along on a white horse, and more¬ 
over with a bagful of fine gold pieces to spend. 

All the girls ran out to look at him as he passed, 
and when he stayed anywhere, even for a short 
time, people seemed to get to know about it at once 
and asked him to their houses and gave grand 
parties in his honour and made so much of him 
altogether that he was in some danger of getting 
thoroughly spoiled. 

But he had been very well brought up, and he 
had a naturally amiable disposition. 

Besides, he had always been told by his mother 
that if you are a prince you must try hard to 
behave as a prince should, and be modest, con¬ 
siderate, and very polite to every one. 

One morning close on midday, he came to a 
tiny village which he did not know at all. 

He was rather hungry after his ride, and as 
he passed down the narrow little street he became 
aware of a delicious smell of new bread. 

It came from the open door of the village 
baker’s, and as he glanced in he saw a pile of 
beautiful, crisp new rolls heaped up in a big white 
basket. 


[28] 


Prince and Baker’s Daughter 

He got down off his horse and went in. 

“I should like to buy one of those nice little 
rolls,” he said to the baker’s daughter, who stood 
behind the counter. 

She was very pretty. She had blue, shining 
eyes and fair smooth hair, and when she smiled 
it was like sunshinejm a flowery meadow. 



The prince ate up his roll and then another and 
yet another, and while he ate he talked to the 
baker’s daughter. But no one can eat more than 
three rolls one after another, and at last he felt 
that the time had come to pay for what he had 

had and ride on his way. 

But, as it happened, he had no small change, 
nothing but a gold piece such as those which he 
had in his bag. 


[29] 


The Rainbow Cat 


The baker’s daughter hadn T t enough money in 
the whole shop to change such a big gold piece, 
her father having set off that very morning with 
all the money in the till in order to buy a sack of 
flour from the miller in the next village. 

She had never even seen so large a gold coin 
before. She wanted to give him the rolls for 
nothing, but of course he wouldn’t hear of that, 
and when he said it didn’t matter about the 
change she wouldn’t hear of that either. 

“Then there’s nothing for it,” said the prince, 
“but for me to stay in the village until I have 
eaten as much as my gold piece will pay for.” 

As a matter of fact he was really quite glad of 
an excuse to stay, the baker’s daughter was so 
very pretty, and he was getting a little tired of 
travelling. 

He pottered about in the bakehouse all the 
afternoon and watched her making the dough for 
her delicious rolls. 

He even offered to help her. 

His blue mantle got rather floury, but he didn’t 
mind that in the least. 

The baker’s daughter was rather worried that 
such a fine gentleman should get in such a mess. 

She didn’t know he was a prince, otherwise 
she might have been more worried still. 

In the evening, when the baker returned, the 

[ 30 ] 


Prince and Baker’s Daughter 

prince asked if he could put him up for a couple 
of nights. 

The baker was a kindly and simple old soul. 
“Gladly, gladly/’ he said, rubbing his hands 
together and smiling, for the village was a small 
one and they were very poor, and he was glad to 
make a little extra money. 

The prince stayed a whole week at the baker’s 
house. By that time, what with the bread he had 
eaten—though he was careful not to eat much 
and always to choose the cheapest—and the price 
of his lodging, about half of the gold piece was 
spent, and the baker’s daughter was able to give 
him the change from the money she had taken in 
the shop. 

So he had no excuse for staying any longer, 
which grieved him because he had grown very 
fond of the baker’s daughter and did not like 
leaving her. 

But he had an idea that his mother and father 
would not think her a very suitable bride for him, 
for princes cannot always marry whom they 
please, and so he rode sadly away. 

But the farther he went the sadder he became, 
and at the end of two months he could bear it no 
longer, and so one fine morning he turned his 
horse’s head round and rode back again the way 
he had come. 

“She is good and clever and beautiful,” he said. 

[31] 


The Rainbow Cat 

“What more can one want in a wife? When my 
mother and father see her they will love her as 
much as I do and will be quite willing that I 
should marry her.” Which really was very 
optimistic of him. 

But alas, when he came to the village and 
sought the bakers shop, he was met by strange 
faces. 

The baker had died a month since, he was told, 
and his daughter had left the village and gone out 
into the world to work for her living, for she 
could not manage the bakehouse by herself and 
there was none to help her now that her father 
was gone. 

The prince was very, very troubled and un¬ 
happy. He tried to find out something more 
about her, but his efforts were fruitless; no one 
seemed to know what had become of her. 

“I will search the world over till I find her,” 
he said, “even if it take me the whole of my life.” 

He wandered on and on, always making fresh 
inquiries, always hoping to hear something of his 
lost love, but always in vain. 

And at last he got back to his own kingdom. 

When his mother and father saw him they 
were horrified to find how pale and thin he had 
grown. 

“Travelling doesn’t seem to suit you, my son,” 

[32] 



HE RODE AWAY UN 11.1 S WHITE HoRsE AND 
TURNED TO WAVE HIS HAND TO IIIS MOTHER 
AND EAT HER HE FORE 1IE WENT OVER THE MILL' 
TOP. 












Prince and Baker’s Daughter 

said his father, looking at him rather seriously 
and stroking his beard. 

“The poor boy is tired out,” said his mother. 
“He’ll look better when he’s had a good rest and 
some proper food. I don’t suppose he’s ever had 
a really wholesome meal in those foreign parts.” 

But the prince remained thin and sad and list¬ 
less, and at last he told his father and mother 
the cause of his unhappiness. At first they were 
a little upset at the idea of his wanting to marry 
so humble a person as the daughter of a village 
baker—“But that of course,” thought the prince, 
“is only because they don’t know her.” 

And after a time, when they saw how unhappy 
he was and that all the distractions with which 
they provided him were unavailing, and that his 
one idea was to go out into the world again and 
search for the baker’s daughter, they were so 
troubled that they felt they would be only too 
glad if he could have the wish of his heart 
fulfilled. 

And then one day as the prince was sitting 
quietly at breakfast with his parents he jumped 
up suddenly with an expression of the greatest 
excitement and joy. 

“What is it, my son?” said his astonished 
mother. 

The prince couldn’t speak for a moment. For 
one thing he was too excited, and for another 

[33] 


The Rainbow Cat 

his mouth was full of bread, and I told you before 
how well brought up he was. 

But he pointed to the dish of breakfast rolls 
and kept on nodding his head and swallowing as 
hard as he could. 

The king and queen thought at first that sor¬ 
row had affected his brain, but the prince was 
able to explain very soon. “The rolls, the rolls,” 
he said. “Her rolls, hers. No one else could 
make them so good. She must be here.” And 
he rushed off to the kitchen without further ado. 

And there, sure enough, he found the baker's 
daughter, peeling potatoes over the sink. 

By the merest chance she had taken a place as 
kitchen-maid in the king's palace, though she 
hadn't the faintest idea, when she did so, that 
the king’s son was the same person as the hand¬ 
some stranger who had once stayed in her 
father's house. 

And though she had been there a month she 
had never seen him. How should she? King's 
palaces are big places, and the kitchen-maids stay 
in the kitchen premises, so that she and the prince 
might never have come face to face at all if it had 
not happened that, owing to the illness of the 
royal roll-maker, she had undertaken to make the 
breakfast rolls that morning. 

When the king and queen saw how sweet and 
beautiful she was they made no objection to her 

[34] 


Prince and Baker’s Daughter 

as a bride for their son, and so he asked her at 
once to marry him, which she consented to do, for 
she loved him as much as he loved her. 

“I don’t know that I should have chosen a 
baker’s daughter for our son’s wife,” said the 
queen to her husband when they talked it over 
that evening. “But she’s certainly a charming 
girl, and quite nice people go into business nowa¬ 
days.” 

“She’ll make him an excellent wife,” said the 
king. “Those rolls were delicious.” 

So they got married quite soon after. The 
wedding was a rather quiet one because the bride 
was in mourning for her father, whom she had 
loved dearly. All the same, it was a very nice 
affair, and everybody was most jolly and gay. 
The prince and his wife had a beautiful house not 
very far from the palace, and I think it is 
extremely likely that they lived happily ever after. 


[35] 


FOUR 


Why Pigs Have Curly Tails 

T HERE was once a fairy who fell into a 
bramble-bush. It was a very closely grown 
bush, and she could not get out. She was sadly 
scratched, and the thorns caught her tiny delicate 
wings and tore her pretty frail dress into shreds. 

The bramble-bush formed part of a hedge 
which ran along the side of an orchard, and 
presently a horse came sauntering up to the 
hedge. 

“Oh, please help me, sir,” said the fairy. “Fm 
caught in a bramble-bush, and can’t get out.” 

The horse came and looked at her. “That’s 
a nasty place to be in,” he said. “What will you 
give me if I get you out?” 

“I’ll give you a golden halter and a silver bit,” 
said the fairy. 

The horse shook his head. “It’s not worth it,” 
he said. “I should scratch my face. My master 
loves me for my beautiful satin skin, and I really 
can’t risk spoiling my appearance. Besides, I 
have some very nice harness of my own. He sees 
to that. Sorry I can’t be of any assistance.” And 
he ambled away. 


[36] 


Why Pigs Have Curly Tails 

A little later a robin perched on the bramble - 
bush. “Oh, please, Mr. Robin, won’t you come 
and help me?” said the fairy. “I can’t get out.” 

“What will you give me,” said the robin, “if I 
help you out?” 



“I’ll give you a jacket of gold and slippers of 
silver,” said the fairy. 

“Thank you very much,” said the robin, “but I 
don’t think that’s quite my style. I have a nice 
red waistcoat already and I should hate to look 
gaudy. Besides, I’m tremendously busy. I’ve 
got a young family to look after, and my wife 
doesn’t like me to be away long.” And he flew off. 

There were sheep grazing in the field on the 

[37] 




The Rainbow Cat 


other side of the hedge, and one of them came 
munching close to the bramble-bush. 

“Oh, please, Mrs. Sheep,” said the fairy, “can 
you help me out of here?” 

“What will you give me if I do?” said the 
sheep. 

“I will teach you to sing as the fairies sing,” 
said the fairy. “I will also give you wisdom.” 
For she was getting more and more anxious, and 
she thought such lovely gifts would tempt the 
sheep. 

But the sheep stared stupidly with her glassy 
eyes. “That’s all very well,” she replied, “but I 
happen to have a very nice voice naturally and can 
already sing rather well. As for wisdom, I don’t 
quite know what that is, but I don’t think it 
sounds very interesting. I’d help you gladly, but 
the thorns would tear my fine woollen coat, and 
that would never do. Surely a fine woollen coat 
is worth much more than wisdom.” And she 
moved away. 

The fairy was beginning to despair; she 
thought she would never, never be able to get 
back to Fairyland. But just as she had given up 
hope, a pig came wandering past, making ugly 
noises and staring about with his little blue eyes. 
He spied the fairy sitting in the midst of the 
bramble-bush with her head down on her knees. 

[38] 


Why Pigs Have Curly Tails 

“What’s the matter?” said the pig. 

The fairy raised her head and saw the pig’s 
ugly pink snout poking in between the bramble- 
twigs. 

“I think I can get you out,” he said, when she 
had told him her trouble. “I’m not much to look 
at, but I’ve got a good tough hide, and at any rate 
I shan’t be afraid of a few scratches spoiling my 
beauty.” So with a good many snuffles and 
grunts he pushed his head and shoulders well into 
the middle of the bush and made a clear way for 
the fairy to get out. 

She gave a sigh of relief when she found her¬ 
self once more free and in the clear sunshine, and 
the pig stood and looked at her admiringly, for 
she was a dear little thing. He was so conscious 
of his ugliness beside her pretty grace that he 
turned away and started off down the orchard. 

“Don’t go—oh, don’t go,” said the fairy. 

The pig turned round. 

• “You’ve not had your reward,” said the fairy. 

“I don’t want any reward, thank you,” grunted 
the pig, and moved on. 

But the fairy persisted. She flew after him. 
“You must have a reward,” she said. “I shall be 
most unhappy if you don’t.” 

“But I don’t want anything, thank you,” said 
the pig. “I have been very glad to help you.” 

[ 39 ] 


The Rainbow Cat 

The fairy stood in front of him, anxiously 
pondering as to what she could possibly give him 
that might be of any use. Nobody seemed to 
want her fairy gifts. She looked him up and 
down. 

“Wouldn’t you like something—something to 
make you more beautiful?” she said. 

She really meant less ugly, but she was so 
grateful to the pig that she was very anxious not 
to hurt his feelings, and so she put it that way. 

“I’m afraid it’s rather hopeless,” said the pig, 
with half a smile. “You see, I’m such an ugly 
fellow. You’d have to alter me all over.” 

“But surely—a little something . . .” said the 
fairy, and she looked at him more thoughtfully 
than ever. 

Now all this happened a very long time 
ago, when pigs had quite straight tails like most 
of the other animals, and suddenly, looking at 
his tail, the fairy had an idea. “I know, I 
know,” she said. “You shall have a curly tail. 
It will be an immense improvement, and so 
uncommon.” 

The pig looked rather pleased. “Well, have 
your own way,” he said. “I can’t see my own 
tail, in any case, but I dare say it wouldn’t look 
bad.” 

So the fairy touched the pig’s tail with her 

[40] 


Why Pigs Have Curly Tails 

wand, and it instantly curled up into nice little 
rings. 

Ever since that day pigs have had curly tails, 
and now you know how they came by this beau¬ 
tiful adornment., 


[4i] 


FIVE 


i 


The Second Adventure of the Rainbow 

Cat 


T HE Rainbow Cat went on and on until at 
last he came to the country of the Tree- 
goblins. The Tree-goblins are happy people; 
they live in the trees like birds, though they can’t 
fly. They are indeed very friendly with the 
birds, and they understand the bird language, so 
that they are able to send one another messages 
without any need of the post—which is very 
convenient! 

When winter comes the goblins go and live in 
their caves underground It is a great change 
after the trees, and they are always delighted 
when spring returns again. 

There are no animals in Tree-goblin-land, but 
the Rainbow Cat was an old friend here too, and 
was received as kindly as in Cloud-land. 

The Tree-goblins are rather funny little 
creatures; they like to keep themselves to them¬ 
selves, as the saying goes, and there are not even 
any fairies living in their country. But they are 
on very friendly terms with the fairy folk, and 

[42] 


The Second Adventure 

their principal occupation is making fairy clothes. 

These are the tiniest, finest little garments 
imaginable, and they are made of all sorts of 
pretty things. Spider thread, of course, and 
moonbeams, and softest silk from silk-worms, 
and flower-petals dipped in magic wells so that 
they cannot fade, and thistledown, and moss- 
velvet, and foam, and lichen—oh, there is no end 
to the things that are used to make clothes for 
the fairies. 



And when they are finished the birds carry 
them to the fairies and bring back orders. Some¬ 
times, when it's a very special occasion, the fairies 
come to be fitted or to choose the stuffs and the 
styles, but not often. 

They are easy to fit and easy to suit, and the 
birds do the ordering most satisfactorily. 

The Rainbow Cat liked being in Tree-goblin- 
land very much indeed. 

He lived in a beautiful copper-beech. When 
the morning sun shone through the leaves his 
little house was filled with a lovely rosy light 

[43] 


The Rainbow Cat 


which was most pleasing and becoming. Every 
morning a chorus of little birds sang songs to 
him for his delight, and every evening they lulled 
him to sleep with soft lullabies. 

They thought him a very grand and beautiful 
person, and so indeed he was. 

When he had been in Tree-goblin-land for two 
or three days the Chief of the Goblins came to see 
him one morning early. He was in great trouble. 

The Queen of the Fairies had sent an order for 
rose-coloured shoes, dozens and dozens of pairs. 
She wanted all the Court to wear rose-coloured 
shoes at her next party, and her next party was 
to take place in three days. 

“We could get the work done,” said the Chief 
Goblin anxiously, “it isn’t that. But we haven’t 
got the material. You see, the roses aren’t out 
yet. There’s been a great run on pink lately and 
we’ve used up all the pink flowers and all our 
other stuffs of that colour. We’ve scarcely got 
an inch of rose-colour of any kind, and we ought 
to start at once. It’ll take us all our time to get 
them made. It would be dreadful to disappoint 
the Queen. What are we to do?” 

The Rainbow Cat was more than willing to 
help, but he felt that it was a difficult matter. 

“How soon must you have the stuff?” he asked* 

“This afternoon would be the very latest,” said 
the goblin. 


[44] 


The Second Adventure 

‘Til see what I can do,” said the Rainbow Cat. 
“I have an idea or two. Don’t worry, it’ll be all 
right. Meet me here at noon, and I’ll let you 
know what I’ve done.” 

The Chief Goblin went away feeling consider¬ 
ably relieved. The Rainbow Cat seemed so wise, 
just the kind of person to think of something 
helpful in an emergency. 

And sure enough at twelve o’clock he came to 
meet the Chief of the Goblins with a cheerful 
twinkle in his dark blue eye. 

“I’ve been making a few inquiries,” he said. 
“But I want to make sure that my information is 
correct. Sit down, and let us have a little quiet 
talk.” 

The Chief of the Goblins sat down and waited 
eagerly. He felt more and more hopeful. 

“Is it true,” said the Rainbow Cat, “is it true 
that the crooked hawthorn tree in the Weeshy 
Glen is very bad-tempered?” 

“Quite true,” said the Chief Goblin. “Nobody 
dares go near him, he’s such a cross, cantankerous 
creature. Lots of the hawthorns are very nice 
indeed, and we’re very fond of them. But he’s 
unbearable. He’ll give any one a nasty scratch if 
he gets half a chance, he’s so spiteful.” 

“Is it true,” continued the Rainbow Cat, “that 
he’s jealous of the other trees because he can’t 

[ 45 ] 


The Rainbow Cat 

grow tall and big like them, and reach up to the 
sky?” 

“Quite true,” said the Chief Goblin. “He 
makes every one round him miserable with his 
grumbling and scolding.” 

“H’m,” said the Rainbow Cat, and he folded 
his arms and sat lost in thought for a few 
minutes. 

“Would the petals of the hawthorn tree do to 
make fairy shoes of?” he said at last. 

“Beautifully,” said the Chief Goblin. “But 
they’re white.” (For at that time all hawthorn 
blossom was white, both in Fairyland and every¬ 
where else.) 

“Quite true,” said the Rainbow Cat. “Can you 
lend me a mandolin?” 

“Yes, I think I can,” said the goblin, and he ran 
off and came back very soon with a beautiful 
mandolin all inlaid with silver and ivory and 
mother-of-pearl. 

“Thank you,” said the Rainbow Cat. “I think 
that in half an hour or so I shall be able to let you 
have all the rose-coloured petals you want.” And 
he hung the mandolin round his neck and set off 
into the forest. 

Presently he came to the Weeshy Glen, sat 
down a little way off from the hawthorn tree 
where its thorns could not possibly touch him, 

[ 46 ] 


The Second Adventure 

tuned up his mandolin, and began to sing this 
little song: 

“The oak tree raises his arms on high, 

The pine tree reaches up to the sky, 

The slender birch is a lady fair, 

The poplar has a most elegant air. 

But tell, oh tell me now, who is this 
Small and stunted and all amiss? 

Who can he be? oh, who can he be? 

This squat little, odd little, strange little tree?” 

It wasn’t very kind of the Rainbow Cat, but 
the hawthorn tree was a very disagreeable fellow, 
you must remember, and nobody could ever do 
anything to punish him because every one was so 
afraid of his sharp thorns. 

Anyway, by the time the Rainbow Cat had got 
to the end of the first verse, the hawthorn tree 
was very angry. He could hardly contain him¬ 
self, and he trembled all over with the temper 
he was in. 

The cat hardly looked at him, but went cheer¬ 
fully on with his song. 

This was the second verse: 

“The elm tree stands like a stately king, 

The leaves of the alder dance and sing, 

My lady beech is a courtly dame, 

The chestnut’s lamps are a shining flame. 

But tell me, tell me, who can he be 
That scarcely reaches up to their knee ? 

Hoary of head and crooked of limb, 

What on earth is the matter with him ?” 

[47] 


The Rainbow Cat 


The hawthorn tree had grown more and more 
furious as the song went on. The Rainbow Cat 
finished up with a beautiful trill when he got to 
“the matter with him,” but the hawthorn tree was 
in no mood to admire his fine singing. So great 
was his rage that he grew pinker and pinker and 
pinker, and he shook so violently that all his petals 
were shaken down. They fell all round him like 
a shower of rosy rain. 

The Rainbow Cat waited no longer. He ran off 
as hard as he could to the Chief of the Goblins, 
still singing as he went, and told him that he would 
find all the stuff he wanted in the Weeshy Glen. 

So the Queen got the rose-coloured shoes after 
all, and the Tree-goblins were most grateful to 
the Rainbow Cat, and begged him to stay with 
them as long as he liked. 

But he thanked them and said he must continue 
his travels. 

They wanted to load him with presents, but all 
he would take was a little bottle of water from the 
magic well. This water has fairy powers. If you 
rub it on your eyes you can see through stone 
walls, which is sometimes very convenient, and 
the Rainbow Cat was quite pleased to have some. 

They also insisted that he should keep the man¬ 
dolin. This he finally consented to do. And ever 
since that time there have always been pink 
hawthorn trees as well as white. 

[48] 


SIX 


Mellidora 

T HERE was once a young prince who wished 
to take a wife. So he went to consult his 
aunt, who was by way of being a Wise Woman. 

“Next week/’ he said, “the King of the Land- 
on-the-other-side-of-the-Mountains is holding a 
great festival in honour of the coming of age of 
his son, and he has invited me to stay at the Court. 
There will be many beautiful ladies there, and I 
am hoping that I may be able to find a wife among 
them. But how shall I know which to choose?” 

“You shall have my advice and welcome,” said 
his aunt. “Choose a maiden who laughs when 
others cry, and cries when others laugh, and you 
will not go far wrong.” 

The prince thanked his aunt for her counsel 
and went back home. He thought the advice she 
had given him rather strange, but he had great 
confidence in her wisdom. “And in any case,” he 
said, “I can but go to the festival and see what 
comes of it.” 

There were indeed many lovely ladies at the 
Court of the King of the Land-on-the-other-side- 

[49] 


The Rainbow Cat 


of-the-Mountains. The prince was quite dazzled 
by their beauty and their wit. Each of them 
seemed more charming than the last. 

On the second day of the fete a picnic had been 
arranged which was to take place in a woodland 
glade some little way from the palace. 

The road thither was rough and very muddy, 
for there had been much rain the week before. 

The princes and knights rode on horseback; 
the ladies were conveyed in carriages gaily decked 
with flowers and drawn by beautiful prancing 
horses. 

But it so happened that the horses of one of the 
carriages became unmanageable. It turned over, 
and the six ladies who rode in it were all tumbled 
into the ditch at the side of the road. 

It was a rather deep ditch, and there was water 
at the bottom of it, so that it was quite a business 
getting them all out, though fortunately none of 
them was seriously hurt. The prince, who hap¬ 
pened to be riding beside the carriage, helped to 
rescue them, and escorted them one by one, weep¬ 
ing, to a seat on the bank, where they presented 
a sorry spectacle with their pretty frocks all 
muddy and bedraggled and their pretty hats all 
on one side. 

But when the prince came to the sixth lady he 
found her, to his great astonishment, sitting at 
the bottom of the ditch, laughing. 

[50] 


Mellidora 


Her hat had come off, her hair had come down, 
she was bedaubed with mud from head to foot, 
and her poor little hands were covered with nettle 
stings. 

But she laughed all the same. 

“We must have looked so funny all tumbling 
into the ditch/’ she said. “I wish I could have 
seen it. We’re still rather a funny sight, aren’t 



we?”—and she looked down at herself and up at 
the weeping ladies on the bank, and laughed 
again. 

There was so much mud on her face that the 
prince could not see what she really looked like, 
but he remembered the words of his aunt. 

“What is the name of the sixth lady?” he 
asked, when they had all been bundled off home. 
“The one who laughed?” 

“Her name is Mellidora,” he was told. 

[5i] 
















The Rainbow Cat 


So in the evening he sought out Mellidora and 
found that she was a most beautiful and charm¬ 
ing person, so much so that he lost his heart to 
her forthwith. 

“But I must do nothing in a hurry/’ he said to 
himself. “After all, there is the other half of 
my aunt’s counsel to be considered. In any case, 
it would perhaps seem a little strange if I asked 
her to marry me quite so soon. We will see what 
happens to-morrow.” 

On the next day all the ladies and gentlemen 
who were staying in the castle were to go out 
riding in the early morning. 

The prince had slept late, and he stood for a 
moment at his window looking down on the court¬ 
yard, where there was a great bustling and 
prancing and making ready. 

Through the midst of all this an old peasant 
woman was making her way. 

She had a basket of eggs on her arm, and care¬ 
fully laid on the top of it was a round flat cake, 
brown and spicy-looking, with a sugar heart in 
the middle of it, surrounded by pink and white 
sugar roses. 

She had made it for a birthday gift for the 
King’s son. But she was a little confused by all 
the bustle in the courtyard, and scurried hither 
and thither among the horses and people like a 
frightened hen. 


[52] 


Mellidora 


Presently one of the King’s servants pushed 
her out of the way. Her foot caught on the edge 
of a stone; she tripped and fell. 

The eggs rolled out of the basket. Plop! 
Plop! they went on the stones. 

There was a fine mess, and the beautiful cake 
lay in the midst of it, in fragments. 

The old woman was so vexed and upset that 
she forgot everything but the misfortune that 
had befallen her, and she stood in the middle of 
the courtyard surrounded by her broken eggs, 
scolding away at the top of her voice and shaking 
her old umbrella at the whole gay crowd. 

Everybody laughed; and indeed she was a 
rather comical sight as she stood there shouting 
and storming. Somebody threw her a gold piece, 
which was kindly meant. But a gold piece 
wouldn’t make her beautiful cake whole again. 

Presently the whole party rode away through 
the courtyard gates—all excepting one, and that 
one no other than Mellidora. 

She slipped down from her horse and went 
swiftly across to where the old woman sat upon 
the stone steps leading up to the big castle doors. 
All her anger was gone, but she looked the picture 
of misery. 

The prince could see how Mellidora stooped to 
pick up the broken cake and tried to put it 
together again, and how kindly she put her arm 

[S3] 


The Rainbow Cat 


round the old woman’s shoulder, coaxing her with 
friendly words. 

And when presently he came down into the 
courtyard to see what more might be done, the 
sun shone upon Mellidora’s gentle face, and he 
saw that her eyes were full of tears. 

Then the prince knew that he had indeed found 
the one whom he sought, for here was a maiden 
who not only laughed when others cried, but who 
also cried when others laughed. 

The old woman was taken to the King’s son, 
where she was so kindly received that she forgot 
all her troubles. 

But the prince waited no longer. 

That very same day he asked Mellidora to 
marry him, and as she loved him as much as he 
did her they got married very soon and lived 
happily ever after.. 


[54] 


SEVEN 


The Clock 


T HERE was once a little clock which had 
gone steadily for years and years. 

It was a good, conscientious little thing, pretty 
too, but very modest, and it had always kept 
splendid time. 

Then it stopped suddenly one day exactly at 
eleven. Its works were worn out, and the clock- 
maker to whom it was sent for repairs returned 
it with the message that it was not possible to 
make it go again. 

The people to whom it belonged decided to 
leave it on the mantelshelf where it had always 
stood. “It’s such a nice little thing,” they said, 
“and some day we can have new works put into 
it.” So there it stood without making a move¬ 
ment or uttering the faintest tick. But it was 
very unhappy. It felt that it was of no real use 
in the world. 

The other things in the room weren’t very nice 
about it. They used to whisper to one another, 
and the little clock caught an unkind word now 
and then that made it unhappier than ever. 

[55] 


The Rainbow Cat 

“I don’t know why they keep it there. What 
on earth’s the good of it if it doesn’t go?” said 
the big grandfather clock. “It never was much 
use anyway. No chime, and a very poor tick. Of 
course it’s got no constitution to speak of.” And 
his brazen face grew even shinier than it had 
been before, and he gave a self-satisfied little 
cough and then sang out his quarters as loudly 
as ever he could. 

The cuckoo clock, which lived in the hall, and 
used to join in the talk when the door was open, 
actually went so far as to make up a little rhyme 
about it. 

“Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo,” it sang. “What’s 
the use of you? What’s the use of you? Cuckoo, 
cuckoo.” 

The chairs, which were Chippendale, and 
tremendously proud of the fact, were quite as 
rude. 

“There’s no doubt about it,” they said, “quality 
is what tells. You can’t expect a thing to last 
unless it is really well made, inside and out. Per¬ 
fect workmanship will wear practically for ever.” 
And they held up their backs as straight as could 
be and curved their shapely arms and legs into the 
most elegant lines imaginable. 

The little Chelsea flower-seller and flute-player, 
who stood on each side of the clock on the mantel- 

[56] 


The Clock 

shelf, were much kinder, and did their best to 
console it. 

They had always been on friendly terms with 
it, and they used to peep round it and smile and 
wave to one another. 



“The Fairy Queen is probably coming to see us 
soon,” said the flower-seller. “Perhaps she may 
be able to help you.” 

The little clock felt happier; it would be won¬ 
derful to be introduced to the Fairy Queen, who 
had often been to see the Chelsea figures but had 
so far never taken notice of any of the other 
things. 


[57] 
















The Rainbow Cat 


You see, those two were old friends of hers. 
They came from Fairyland originally, but the tale 
went that a wicked witch had cast a spell over 
them which was to last for seven hundred and 
seventy-seven years. At the end of that time they 
would be able to go back to Fairyland, but mean¬ 
while the Queen used to come and visit them now 
and then in order to cheer them up. Sure enough, 
the very next time she came, the flower-seller 
remembered about the little clock and told her 
how unhappy it was. 

The Queen came and stood in front of it and 
stroked its face with her tiny hand and patted its 
pretty ormolu pillars. 

Finally she sat down on the little green marble 
slab on which it stood, and asked it to tell her all 
its troubles. 

And the little clock opened its heart to her and 
told her how miserable it was to think that it 
would never, never be able to tell the time again. 

“But you will ” said the Queen. “Every day 
and every night at eleven o’clock you will be 
exactly right. None of the other clocks”—she 
glanced round almost contemptuously at the 
grandfather—“can be quite sure of ever being 
perfectly right. But you will be. Why, it must 
be about eleven now.” She pulled a dandelion- 
clock from her pocket and began to blow and 
to count. “One, two, three, four. . . .” The 

[58] 


The Clock 


white darts floated away and went drifting about 
the room. At last only one remained. 

At that moment the cuckoo clock was heard 
striking in the hall. The Queen stopped blowing 
to listen. 

“He’s fast,” she said, and waited till he had 
finished. “Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 
eleven,” she went on, and, as she ended, the last 
white morsel of down rose in the air. She 
glanced at the little clock. “You see, you’re quite 
right,” she said triumphantly. “And to-morrow 
morning you’ll be right again at eleven o’clock.” 

The little clock beamed, and it beamed still 
more when the Fairy Queen opened its glass door 
and gently clasped its hands in hers and said how 
much she looked forward to seeing it again. 

Just then the grandfather cleared his throat 
and went through his pompous performance of 
chiming out the quarters and hour. 

“You’re five minutes slow,” said the Queen, 
and she waved her hand and vanished through 
the ventilator. 


[59] 


EIGHT 


The Moon 

T HE moon, of course, is a big golden penny 
hung up in the sky. Every month when it 
is at the full the fairies stand in the fields and 
gaze at it and feel in their empty pockets. There 
are so many things they want to buy. Rainbow 
ribbon from the weather clerk for sashes, silken 
thread from the spider for weaving into shawls, 
pearl varnish from the snail for doing up their 
wings, and little red feathers from the robin for 
wearing in their Sunday bonnets. 

At last they can bear it no longer. They all 
go flying into the sky and unhook the moon and 
carry it off to go marketing with. And when 
they’re tired of spending they hang what is left 
of it up again in the sky and go home to bed. But 
the next night they fetch it again and spend a 
little more. 

They go on doing this night after night for 
nearly a fortnight, and the moon gets smaller 
and smaller, till at last there’s nothing left of it 
at all. And when the fairies realise what they 
have done, they get frightened. 

[60] 


The Moon 


“We've spent all the moon," they say. “Sup¬ 
pose it never grew again! Wouldn't it be dread¬ 
ful?" And they all hide away in the forest and 
don't come out for several nights. 

But at last one of them takes courage and puts 
his head out, and he sees a little tiny bit of moon 
shining in the sky. Whereupon he gives a shout 
and claps his hands and goes running round to 



the houses of all the other fairies to tell them the 
good news. 

“The moon's growing again," he says. “Come 
quick and look." And they all come out to look 
at it, and caper about and are as pleased as pleased 
can be. 

“We'll never take it again," they say. “It 
might not grow next time." But at the end of a 
fortnight they have worn all their pretties a little 
shabby, and they want some more. And by that 

[61] 





The Rainbow Cat 


time the moon has grown so big that they feel 
that they must spend a little of it. And—would 
you believe it?—they end up by doing all over 
again just exactly what they did before. 

They’ve been going on like this for ages, and 
what’s more, they’re beginning to take it for 
granted that the moon will grow again, and so I 
don’t suppose they’ll ever get cured. But it’s very 
tiresome of them. 

We could quite well do with all the moon 
always. Besides, some day it really might not 
grow again. And what then . . . ? 


[62] 


NINE 


The Third Adventure of the Rainbow Cat 


W HEN the Rainbow Cat left the land of 
the Tree-goblins he travelled for some 
time until he came to a delightful country called 
the Bountiful Land. 

It was a marvellous country. 

There were deep forests there, and great 
meadows full of the loveliest flowers, such as 
only grow in gardens in, other countries; the 
sky was nearly always blue, and the people who 
lived in that land were happy and contented. 
That is to say, they would have been but for one 
thing. 

In the very middle of the country there was 
a great castle built high upon a rock, and in this 
castle—so the inhabitants of the place told the 
Rainbow Cat—there lived a cruel and wicked 
giantess who tyrannised over the people and con¬ 
stantly took away their goods, sometimes even 
their children. 

The Rainbow Cat did not meet with any one 
who had actually seen the giantess face to face, 
but terrible tales were told of her doings and of 
her horrible appearance. She was three times the 

[63] 


The Rainbow Cat 


height of an ordinary man, it was said. Her hair 
was like knotted ropes, her eyes flamed fire; 
when she blew her nose, the sound was like thun¬ 
der ; when she sneezed, forests swayed as beneath 
a hurricane; when she stamped her foot, whole 
villages collapsed. 

Besides being a giantess she was reported to 
be able to work magic, and that frightened the 
people more than anything else. 

On dark nights she would come down from 
her castle, they told him, in a chariot drawn by 
six dragons, and when the people heard the noise 
of it they fled into their houses and locked the 
doors and barred the windows. From within 
they could hear their barns and granaries being 
ransacked, and the opening of the doors of sheds 
and stables, whence their best cattle and horses 
were carried off. 

But sometimes a great voice would be heard 
shouting in the dark, “Throw out your treasures 
or I will take your children.” Then the terrified 
people opened their windows and threw out their 
treasures in fear and trembling. 

And notices would mysteriously appear in the 
villages, threatening that unless certain things 
were delivered up at the castle gates, the giantess 
would come down and take a terrible revenge. 

The things were conveyed up the rocky path 
by terrified villagers, who left them in front of 

[64] 


The Third Adventure 


the gates as commanded. They always came back 
with most alarming stories of what they had 
observed. 

One man had seen the giantess’s shoes being 
cleaned by a servant in the courtyard. They were 
as big, he said, as a hay waggon. 



Another was so frightened by the sight of her 
washing hanging out on the line that he ran all 
the way home and did not get over it for weeks. 

But the worst thing of all was that children 
who had wandered a little way from home disap¬ 
peared and never came back. 

Others who escaped would tell how an enor¬ 
mous cloaked figure had suddenly sprung out 
from behind a tree, seized one of their comrades, 
and made off into the woods. 

[ 65 ] 






The Rainbow Cat 


The thing had grown so bad that people dare 
not let their children out of their sight for a 
moment, and they were growing so afraid of the 
visits of the giantess that all happiness was 
rapidly vanishing out of the land. 

The fame of the Rainbow Cat’s wisdom had 
already reached this country, and the people were 
delighted to see him and implored him to come to 
their assistance. The Rainbow Cat felt that this 
was a very serious matter indeed, but he was 
exceedingly sorry for the people and promised to 
do all he could to help them. 

So on the evening of the second day after his 
arrival, he took his little bag, which contained, 
among other things, the lightning which the 
Thunder Giant had given him and the bottle of 
fairy water from Tree-goblin-land, and quietly 
set off for the castle of the giantess. 

He said nothing of his purpose to the kind folk 
with whom he was staying—he knew it would 
only make them fearfully anxious. 

He just said he was going out for a little walk 
in order to think the matter over. 

He climbed lightly and softly up the rocky path 
until he came right under the castle walls. 

There were two immense stone towers, one at 
each end of the castle, and from the high chimney 
of one of them great clouds of evil-looking smoke 

[ 66 ] 


The Third Adventure 

were pouring forth—green and purple and 
black. 

“Aha,” said the Rainbow Cat to himself, 
“that’s where she’s busy at her horrible tricks, 
is it?” 

So he sat down outside the tower, opened his 
bag, and dabbed his eyes with water from his 
little bottle, so that he was able to see right 
through the wall into the inside of the tower. 

To his great astonishment, he saw no giantess, 
but a very nasty-looking old wizard with a long 
grey beard and an enormously tall hat, who sat 
in a large room in front of a great open fire. 

All manner of strange and terrible-looking 
things hung upon the walls of the room or were 
stowed away in cupboards, and the floor and 
tables were piled with books of magic. 

A great bunch of keys hung from the girdle of 
the wizard, who was busily stirring something 
which was bubbling over the fire in a big black 
pot, from which came the smoke that the Rain¬ 
bow Cat had noticed pouring from the chimney. 

The firelight shone on the labels of the keys, so 
that the Rainbow Cat was able to read what was 
written on them. 

“Gold Chest—Silver Chest—Jewel Chest— 
Giantess’s Room—Prisoners’ Room—Giantess’s 
Garden”: these were some of the names he read 
on the labels, and he began to understand things 

[ 67 ] 


The Rainbow Cat 


a little better. But he thought he would make a 
few more investigations. So he picked up his 
little bag and walked softly off to the other end 
of the castle, sat down on the ground at the foot 
of the tower there, and again bathed his eyes with 
fairy water. 

This time he found himself looking into a big 
room full of children. 

They were all very busy. 

Some of them were sorting strange-looking 
herbs, some of them were grinding queer sub¬ 
stances with heavy stones, some of them were 
anxiously measuring out liquids drop by drop 
from one bottle into another. 

They all looked pale and tired; they did not 
laugh and talk over their work as one would 
expect children to do. 

And then the door of the room opened and in 
walked—who but the giantess herself! 

But imagine the surprise of the Rainbow Cat 
upon discovering that, although she was indeed 
immensely tall, she was otherwise by no means a 
terrible-looking person, but had, on the contrary, 
a sweet and charming face and beautiful golden 
hair. 

The children all came running up to her as soon 
as she appeared, and seemed delighted to see her. 
She bent down and lifted some of them up into 

[ 68 ] 


The Third Adventure 

her arms, and was so gentle and sweet with them 
all that it was a joy to see her. 

The Rainbow Cat lost no further time; he took 
his mandolin, and sitting there at the foot of the 
tower, he began playing a little tune. 

He daren't play very loud for fear the wizard 
should hear him in the other tower, but fortu¬ 
nately the wind was in the right direction, and 
in any case he felt pretty certain that the wizard 
was too much taken up with his enchantments to 
pay attention to anything else. 

But the giantess heard, for of course giantesses 
have very much larger ears than ordinary people 
and hear much better, and she put her head out of 
the window and saw the Rainbow Cat sitting 
there in the dusk and asked him who he was and 
what he was doing. 

“I am a friend,” said the Rainbow Cat. “Help 
me to come up.” 

So the giantess let down her ribbon waist-belt 
with the bag she kept her handkerchief in tied to 
the bottom of it, and this was so large that the 
Rainbow Cat was easily able to get into it 
together with his precious bag and mandolin. 

The giantess hauled him up to the window-sill 
and asked him to come in and sit down and tell 
her what he was doing there and all about him¬ 
self, for she saw that he was no ordinary creature. 

[69] 


The Rainbow Cat 


And when he had explained to her why he was 
there and what he had learnt in the Bountiful 
Country, she told him her own tale. 

How the wicked magician had stolen her away 
from home when she was quite young and had 
brought her to this castle, and how he kept her 
shut up, while with his magic spells he did all sorts 
of evil things. 

“I know the people think it is all my doing,” 
said the poor giantess. “He can turn an old 
wash-tub and six beans into a chariot drawn by 
flaming dragons, and when he flies out he wears 
a great cloak over his tall hat, so that every one 
takes him for me. 

“He makes these poor children help him in his 
wicked work, and keeps them prisoners just as 
he does me. 

“He does not even give us enough to eat. If 
we are not soon rescued we shall all die. He 
grows worse every day.” 

Big tears fell from the giantess’s eyes. 

Each one made a little pool where it fell. 

“Don’t cry,” said the Rainbow Cat, “all will 
yet be well. My magic is stronger than his. 
When once I get at him I’ll soon finish him off. 
Will you take me to him?” 

But the giantess was afraid; she said she dare 
not disturb him. “Besides,” she said, “he would 
never let you in, he is so suspicious.” 

[ 70 ] 


The Third Adventure 

“It’s got to be done somehow,” said the Rain¬ 
bow Cat, “if you’re to be set free.” 

He sat softly strumming on his mandolin and 
thinking, and suddenly the giantess had an idea. 

“He loves music,” she said. “He says it helps 
his brain to work. If you could pretend to be a 
wandering musician-” 

The Rainbow Cat leapt with joy. 

“The very thing, my dear,” he said. “Have 
you by any chance got a peacock’s feather to 
lend me?” 

This the giantess was able to provide. 

“Thank you very much,” said the Rainbow Cat. 
“You will see; in an hour’s time you will all be 
free. Good-bye for the present.” 

He was so excited that he jumped clean out of 
the window—mandolin, bag and all. 

But he was quite all right. 

You know, even ordinary cats are supposed 
always to fall on their feet, and of course a fairy 
cat-! 

When he reached the ground he wrapped him¬ 
self in his cloak, pulled his hat well over his eyes 
and stuck the peacock’s feather in the front of it. 

“Now I look just like a wandering musician,” 
he said, and he went boldly up to the door of the 
wizard’s tower and pulled the bell. 

The magician himself came to the door, but he 
opened it only the tiniest little bit. 

[71] 




The Rainbow Cat 


“Who are you, and what do you want?” he 
said in a very gruff voice. 

“I am a poor wandering musician,” said the 
cat. “May I come in and give you a tune?” 

The wizard looked at him suspiciously. “What 
have you got in that bag?” he asked, giving it a 
kick with his foot, so that the bundle of lightning 
made a rattling noise. 

“I’ve got all the major and minor keys in 
there,” said the Rainbow Cat. “A bunch of them. 
That's what makes such a rattle. But I can’t do 
without them.” 

“Sing me a song,” said the wizard, “and then 
I’ll see whether I’ll let you in or not.” 

So the Rainbow Cat sat down on the doorstep 
and sang this little song, and the wizard stood 
just inside the door and listened. 

THE SONG OF THE GOOSE 

“There once was a goose who lived on a green, 

Gold was his beak and his feathers were clean, 

A handsomer creature there never was seen, 
Heydiddle ho, never was seen; 

He lived on a green and he waddled about, 

For he said, ‘To be sure I don’t want to get stout, 
And, anyway, exercise keeps off the gout; 

Heydiddle ho, keeps off the gout.’ ” 

“I don’t think much of that song,” said the 
wizard. 

“The next verse is very good,” said the Rain- 

[72] 


The Third Adventure 

bow Cat. “But I’m not going to sing it out here 
in the cold night air. I shall ruin my voice.” 

“Well, come in,” said the wizard, for he 
wanted to hear the end of the song, and he let the 
Rainbow Cat in. 

But no sooner were they inside the wizard’s 
room than the Rainbow Cat opened his bag and 
pulled out the bundle of lightning and let it loose 
all over the place. You never heard such a 
commotion! 

Meanwhile he threw off his cloak, leapt upon 
the table, and stood there with his hair all stand¬ 
ing on end and his eyes darting green and blue 
fire, while the lightning flashed all round him and 
round the terrified wizard, who threw himself 
down on his knees, crying “Mercy, Mercy!”—for 
he had never seen anything like it before and he 
was anyway but a cowardly creature at heart. 

Presently the wizard’s attendants came run¬ 
ning to see what was the matter. 

They dare not come into the room, but stood 
trembling in the doorway. 

“Tie him up,” commanded the Rainbow Cat in 
a great loud voice. 

The attendants were not at all fond of their 
master, but in any case they were so frightened 
of the strange and terrible creature on the table 
that they did not dare to disobey. 

So the wizard was tied to the table, and the 

[73] 


The Rainbow Cat 


Rainbow Cat took all his wicked books and his 
pots and pans and the rest of his nasty parapher¬ 
nalia and threw them out of the window on to the 
ground below, where they were burnt later on 
in a great bonfire. 

By this time the news had spread all over the 
castle, and presently the giantess came in, with 
the children trooping behind her. 

The wizard had grown black in the face with 
rage; he knew that even if he were set free he 
would be utterly powerless. 

For he had lost all his magic books, and he was 
truly rather a stupid wizard and could do abso¬ 
lutely nothing without them. 

As a matter of fact the gentle giantess didn’t 
want him to be punished, and in the end he was 
conducted to the borders of the country and 
threatened with instant death if ever he returned. 
But that, of course, was later. 

You can imagine what excitement there was 
in the land when the Rainbow Cat appeared the 
next day walking down the road from the castle 
with the giantess by his side and all the children 
running in front, and the wicked magician led 
behind in chains. 

The Rainbow Cat, having finished his task, 
soon bade his friends good-bye and set out once 
more on his travels. 

The giantess made him a present of the gold 

[74] 


The Third Adventure 

ring which she wore on her little finger. He 
would take nothing else. He wore it as a collar 
round his neck, where it was always greatly 
admired. 

She herself soon became a great favourite 
among the people of the Bountiful Land. They 
loved her dearly and were very proud of her. 
But she always had to be very careful not to 
sneeze or stamp. 

People even came from other countries to see 
her, so that in the end it grew quite embarrassing. 

But, in time, a giant who had heard much of 
her beauty and gentleness travelled all the way 
from Giant-land to visit her, and he married her 
and took her away to his own home. 

Her trousseau took some making, I can tell you! 

All the women in the district sewed at it for 
six months—and even then she was able to have 
only six of everything., 


[75] 


TEN 


Almond Blossom 

L ONG ago the leaves and blossoms of the 
i almond-tree came out together like those on 
other trees. But now the blossoms come out first. 
Shall I tell you why ? 

One day in early spring the Fairy Queen was 
riding about the country. 

“Oh, dear,” she said, “I’m so tired of this 
wintry weather. I wish the flowers were out. 
And next week is my birthday”—the Fairy 
Queen, you must know, has birthdays much 
oftener than ordinary people—“my first spring 
birthday this year, and there are still only a few 
primroses and violets. How I should love to see 
some pink flowers! I’m so fond of pink.” 

The little buds of the almond-tree heard her. 
“Can’t we manage it?” they said to their 
mother, the tree. “Can’t we be out in time for 
the Queen’s birthday next week?” 

“You can try,” said their mother. “But what 
about your brothers, the leaves? You know how 
lazy they are. And you can’t come out without 
them. You would look funny.” 

[76] 



Almond Blossom 


The little pink buds did all they could. They 
caught every bit of sunshine, they sucked up 
every drop of moisture, they grew and grew. But 
their lazy brothers would not bestir themselves. 
They kept tight folded in their winter jackets.. 



“It's too cold,” they said. “Br-r-r. Why 
should we hurry ?” And so, when the Queen’s 
birthday came, of course they were not ready, 
though the pink blossoms were all waiting to burst 
into bloom. Presently the Queen came riding 

[77] 






The Rainbow Cat 


through the forest on her white rabbit. The sun 
was shining and the sky was blue. She halted 
under the almond-tree and sighed a little. 

“I’ve had some lovely presents/' she said. “A 
necklace of dewdrops from the early morning, a 
blue velvet cloak from the night, and a basketful 
of perfumed kisses from the south wind, who 
came such a long, long way to bring them. I 
should be perfectly happy if only I had some pink 
flowers." 

The buds of the almond blossom heard her and 
quivered with excitement. They could wait no 
longer. With one accord they all burst forth into 
full bloom. The scent of them was like the smell 
of honey. 

The Queen looked up. 

“Oh, you darlings," she said. “You darlings. 
I’ll have my birthday party under your tree. It 
will be the prettiest spring party I have ever had." 

And ever since that day the pink blossoms have 
always come out in time for the Queen’s first 
spring birthday without waiting for their lazy 
little brothers. And every year the fairies hold 
their earliest revels under the blossoming boughs 
of the almond-tree.. 


[78] 


ELEVEN 


The Rondel 

T here was once a princess who dwelt in a 
castle in the midst of a great park. She 
lived hidden away from the world in her quiet 
home and was scarcely ever seen by strangers. 

Rumours of her charm and loveliness, and of 
her wonderful golden hair, spread far and wide 
over the land, and she was always known and 
spoken of as Princess Golden-bright. But her 
real name was Gentle. 

All round the castle were lovely pleasure-gar¬ 
dens in which were gay flower-beds and slender, 
dancing fountains. But the princess’s favourite 
spot was a circle of ash-trees which stood in the 
park some small distance away from the castle on 
a little grassy hill with a path leading up to it. 

It was called the Rondel. 

In the middle of the circle of trees stood a 
table with a seat running round it; the ground was 
carpeted with soft moss, and the tree-trunks stood 
up straight and tall like marble pillars. 

The princess loved nothing better than to sit in 
the Rondel in the warm weather with her books 
and embroidery. 


[79] 


The Rainbow Cat 


It was like being in a little house with a high 
green roof to it. 

Moreover it was a fairy place, and the ash-trees 
would often tell her the most delightful stories 
of what was going on outside the walls of the 
park, for they were so tall that they could see a 
long way. 

They learnt many things, too, from the birds, 
who loved to perch among their branches and to 
chatter away to one another about their adven¬ 
tures in the big world. 

The princess very rarely went beyond the walls 
of the park, for she was quite happy among the 
birds and flowers. But because the beauty of 
Princess Golden-bright was famed throughout 
the land, many princes sent to ask for her hand in 
marriage. 

Some of them even came in person, but the 
princess would have nothing to do with any of 
them. 

“I am quite happy,” she said; “I do not want 
a husband.” However, when she was twenty 
years old, her fairy god-mother came to pay her 
a visit, and talked to her most earnestly upon this 
very subject of getting married, telling her that 
it was exceedingly foolish of her to refuse to see 
any of these suitors. “My dear Gentle,” she said, 
“whoever heard of a princess who was an old 
maid? I don’t say you need choose in a hurry, 

[Bo] 


The Rondel 


but I certainly think you ought at least to see these 
gentlemen. You may very possibly find one 
among them whom you like, and the ash-trees 
will help you to choose if you should be in doubt.” 



So the princess promised to do as her god¬ 
mother wished, and after her departure she made 
it known by proclamation that Princess Golden- 
bright was willing to receive any suitable person 
who might wish to pay her his addresses. 

The day after this was done she went as usual 
to sit in the Rondel, and while she busied herself 

[Si] 











The Rainbow Cat 


with her embroidery she talked over this matter 
of the suitors with her beloved ash-trees. 

“How shall I know whom to choose?” said the 
princess. “I have no experience at all. If I must 
have a husband I should like to be sure that he is 
the right one.” 

“Do not be afraid, dear princess,” replied the 
ash-trees. “You know that whosoever stands be¬ 
neath our boughs is bound to speak the truth. 
You need ask but one question of each of the 
suitors. According to his answer you will be able 
to judge of his suitability as a husband.” 

“What shall I ask him?” said the princess. 

“Ask him,” replied the ash-trees, “what he 
most desires in a wife. That will be quite 
sufficient.” 

So the princess sat and waited. 

Presently she heard a whispering among the 
leaves over her head. 

“There’s one coming,” they said. “We can see 
him riding along the high road.” 

“Oh, what is he like?” said the princess. 

“He is a very fine-looking gentleman indeed,” 
said the ash-trees. “He rides on a great black 
prancing horse, and a company of twenty knights 
rides behind him. He wears shining armour. 
The harness of his horse is studded with jewels 
and the hilt of his sword blazes in the sunshine.” 

“It sounds very exciting,” said the princess, 

[82] 


The Rondel 


and she put down her stitching and smoothed her 
golden hair and spread out the folds of her flower- 
embroidered gown, for naturally she wanted to 
look her best. 

Before long the prince arrived at the castle 
gates, and a messenger came out into the park 
to tell the princess that he had come from a 
neighbouring kingdom to seek her hand. 

“I will see him here/' said the princess. 

So the prince came riding through the park 
with his knights all jingling behind him, each of 
them bearing a golden casket containing a present 
for the princess. 

When the prince reached the foot of the little 
hill on which the Rondel stood and saw the 
princess under the trees, he dismounted from his 
horse and came on foot to where she sat. 

The knights waited at the bottom of the hill. 

The princess received him graciously, and he 
stood before her in the shadow of the ash-trees 
and asked if she would marry him. 

“I have a great kingdom,” said he, “great 
riches and great power, and my enemies all 
fear me.” 

“I am much honoured,” said the princess, “but 
I should like to ask you one question. What do 
you most desire in a wife?” 

“Obedience,” said the prince without an 

[83] 


The Rainbow Cat 

instant’s hesitation, for he was obliged to speak 
the truth. 

The princess smiled a little. 

“And what would you do if your wife disobeyed 
you?” she asked. 

“Whip her,” said the prince. 

“I am much obliged to you,” said the princess, 
“but I am afraid that I might not always be 
obedient, and I should not like to be whipped. 
Good-day.” 

So the prince rode away home again with his 
knights, and the princess went on with her sewing. 

Before long she again heard a whispering 
among the trees. 

“Another suitor is riding along the road,” they 
said. 

“Oh, and what is he like?” said the princess. 

“He rides on a white horse,” said the ash-trees, 
“and he wears a blue velvet cap with a white 
feather in it. He carries a bunch of roses in his 
hand, and behind him ride six gentlemen in gaily 
coloured mantles with guitars slung over their 
shoulders. He has auburn hair and blue eyes. 
They ride at the trot.” 

“He sounds rather pleasing,” said the princess, 
and she picked a flower from the syringa bush 
which grew at the entrance to the Rondel and 
stuck it in her hair. 

'The blue-eyed prince was also bidden to come 

[84] 



“if 

SPE 


YOU WILL MARRY ME,” HE SAID, “i 
ND MY DAYS MAKING VERSES ABOUT 


WILL 

YOU." 

















The Rondel 


out to the Rondel, and he too dismounted from 
his horse at the foot of the little hill and came 
gaily walking up the path till he stood beneath 
the branches of the ash-trees. 

He bowed low before the princess and laid his 
bunch of roses on the table in front of her. 

She smiled graciously, for he was a comely 
young man, and he thereupon offered her his hand 
in exceedingly beautiful language. 

“If you will marry me,” he said, “I will spend 
my days making verses about you. They will 
be sung throughout my kingdom. I will make a 
whole book of them. It shall be called ‘Songs of 
Queen Golden-bright.’ ” The princess thought 
this sounded rather attractive. One does not so 
often come across a prince who is also a poet. 

But the ash-trees rustled softly above her head, 
and she remembered the question that she was 
to ask. 

“Will you tell me what you most desire in a 
wife?” she said. 

“Beauty,” said the prince promptly. 

“But supposing,” said the princess, “that your 
wife fell downstairs and broke her nose, so that 
her beauty was spoilt. What then?” 

“Oh, then of course I shouldn’t be able to make 
up any more verses about her,” said the prince. 
“I should get very irritable. How could I bear 
to look at a wife with a crooked nose ? She would 

[85] 


The Rainbow Cat 

certainly have to be most careful not to break 
her nose.” 

The princess laughed. 

“I think you’d better get married to a waxen 
lady,” she said. “If you kept her in a glass case 
out of the sun she would remain beautiful for 
ever, and there would be no fear of her nose 
getting broken. Thank you very much for 
coming. I fear that we are not quite suited to 
one another. Good-day.” 

The prince bowed low, picked up his bunch of 
roses, and rode off again through the park with 
his white feather streaming behind him in the 
wind. 

“I’m sorry,” said the princess. “He looked so 
very nice, and I’m sure he must make lovely songs. 
But I should always have been afraid of breaking 
my nose.” And she laughed again and took up 
her embroidery. 

Several more suitors came during the day to 
ask for the hand of the princess, but not one of 
them gave a satisfactory answer to the question. 

One of them thought it above all things desir¬ 
able in a wife that she should be able to make a 
good pudding; another required that she should 
talk very little—“which I certainly couldn’t prom¬ 
ise,” said the princess; another considered it most 
important that she should have twelve bags full 
of gold pieces! They all had to tell the truth when 

[ 86 ] 



The Rondel 


they stood under the branches of the ash-trees, 
and some of them really had the most curious 
ideas. 

At last, just as the sun was going down, there 
came a prince riding on a chestnut horse and 
attended only by one squire. He had come a long 
way, from a far-off country, and he had ridden 
hard, for he had heard much about the lovely 
Princess Golden-bright and was afraid that he 
might be too late. 

In spite of his dusty and travel-stained appear¬ 
ance the princess was pleased with the look of 
him, for he was tall and slender and had dark 
curling hair and pleasant grey eyes, and she hoped 
very much that he would answer the question 
satisfactorily. 

When he came to the top of the little hill and 
saw the princess he fell on his knee and could find 
no word to say, she was so much more beautiful 
than he could ever have imagined. 

But she smiled kindly at him, and he took 
courage and told her how for a long time he had 
wanted to come to see her, and that now he feared 
he had come too late. 

The princess asked him many questions, but 
she hesitated to ask the most important of all, 
for she liked him better every minute and was 
afraid he might not give the right answer. 

The ash-trees rustled and rustled as if a wind 

[87] 


The Rainbow Cat 

were blowing through them, and at last she felt 
she must wait no longer. 

“Will you tell me,” she said softly, “what it is 
that you most desire in a wife?” 

The prince was perplexed; truly he had never 
thought about the matter. He looked down at 
the ground and then he looked up at the trees, 
and as he did so they all began to whisper softly. 
“Gentle, Gentle, Gentle,” they said. 

“Why, of course,” said the prince, and he 
looked again at the princess and smiled. “There 
is one thing I desire above all else in a wife. 
She must be Gentle ” 

And what better answer could he have given? 
For Gentle indeed she was. 

The princess stood up and held out her hands 
to him. Her embroidery fell to the ground. 
“He’ll do, he’ll do,” rustled the ash-trees. 

But the princess didn’t even hear them. She 
had already made up her mind.. 


[ 88 ] 


TWELVE 


Jan and the Magic Pencil 

T HERE was once a little boy called Jan, who 
lived in a country village. One day he had 
the good luck to be able to help a fairy out of a 
ditch, where she had got stuck in the mud. 

The fairy was very grateful to Jan, and 
promised him, as a reward for his kindness, that 
he should have what he most wished for in the 
world. 

Jan was not a very clever boy, and at first he 
couldn’t think of anything to wish for. His 
father was a farmer, and Jan had a good home 
and plenty to eat and drink; his only real trouble 
was that he was always at the bottom of his class 
at school. His father scolded and his mother 
wept, but Jan always stopped at the bottom. He 
wasn’t so bad at reading and writing, but he 
simply could not do arithmetic. His sums were 
always wrong, even the quite easy ones. 

So when he had thought for a few minutes and 
the fairy was beginning to grow impatient, he 
decided that the best thing for him to wish for 
was that he might be'able to get his sums right. 
The fairy accordingly gave him a magic slate 

[89] 


The Rainbow Cat 

pencil which possessed the power of being able 

to do any kind of arithmetic without ever making 

any mistake. You simply held it in your hand 

and it would write down the answer on vour slate 

* 

almost before you had time to read over the 
figures. 

Jan was delighted with his present, which he 
put carefully away in his pencil-box. He could 
hardly believe that it would do such wonderful 
things; but, sure enough, he found he could do 
all his sums without the slightest effort, and 
that every one of them was right. 

Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication—it made 
nothing of them all. Even those dreadful Long 
Division sums were no trouble to the magic 
pencil: it danced nimbly down the slate without 
stopping even for a second, and the answers were 
always right. Jan’s schoolmaster was astonished, 
so were his parents, and delighted too, when by 
the end of the week Jan had risen to the top of 
the school. 

“What a good teacher I am, after all!” said 
the schoolmaster to himself. “I have even been 
able to teach arithmetic to a boy who was so 
hopelessly stupid over it that he couldn’t add up 
two and two correctly.” 

He was so proud of this that he actually invited 
the principal people in the neighbourhood to come 
in and see his wonderful scholar., 

[90] 


Jan and the Magic Pencil 

And so it happened that the doctor, the lawyer, 
the priest, the mayor and one or two other im¬ 
portant folk from round about arrived at the 
schoolhouse one fine day, all agog to see the 
schoolmaster’s wonderful pupil.. 



“Come here, Jan,” said the schoolmaster, “and 
show these gentlemen what you can do.” And 
he wrote out a long sum on the blackboard—an 
addition sum in twenty rows, all bristling with 
eights and nines. Poor Jan came forward in fear 
and trembling. 

“I’d rather do it on my slate,” he said. 

But his schoolmaster wouldn’t hear of that. 

[9i] 





















The Rainbow Cat 


So Jan had to stand up in front of the black¬ 
board with a piece of chalk in his hand. Of course 
he couldn’t do the sum at all. It took him a 
dreadfully long time and not one figure was right. 

“The boy’s nervous,” said the doctor. “You’ve 
been overtaxing him.” 

The lawyer smiled and took a pinch of snuff. 
“I had an idea that our friend the schoolmaster 
was rather drawing the long bow,” he whispered 
to the mayor. The priest came and patted Jan’s 
head. 

“Try again, my child,” he said. “You’ll do 
better next time.” 

But Jan did no better the next time. If any¬ 
thing, he did even worse. The schoolmaster was 
much annoyed. It made him look so foolish. 
When the visitors had gone he gave Jan a good 
caning and sent him home in disgrace. 

His father and mother were very disappointed, 
too, when they heard what had happened. 

“I always knew the lad was a dullard,” said 
his father. 

Jan wandered disconsolately out into the sun¬ 
shine. It’s not nice to be called a dullard, par¬ 
ticularly when you’ve been top of your school for 
a whole month. His mother came after him. 

“You shall have a hot apple pasty for your 
supper,” she said; “it’s in the oven now.” 

But even apple pasty couldn’t console Jan. 

[92] 


Jan and the Magic Pencil 

He went into the lane and sat down near the 
place where he had seen the fairy. He rather 
hoped he might see her again. Sure enough, he 
hadn’t been there five minutes when he felt a light 
touch on his shoulder, and there she was, perched 
on a swaying wild-rose spray in the hedge close 
beside him. 

“Oh, come,” she said when Jan had told her 
his trouble, “we can soon remedy that.” And 
she gave him a piece of chalk to keep in his pencil- 
box together with his fairy slate pencil. “Now 
you will be able to do sums on the blackboard as 
well as on your slate,” she said. 

Jan thanked her and went home feeling quite 
happy, so that he was able thoroughly to enjoy 
his supper and his apple pasty. 

Things went swimmingly for a while. Jan 
did more wonderful sums than ever, both on the 
blackboard and on his slate. The schoolmaster 
was more careful this time; but he called in first 
one person and then another to see what Jan 
could do, and now he was no longer disappointed. 
Even the lawyer had to acknowledge that the boy 
was indeed a marvel. 

But alas and alas! After a little time Jan 
became so conceited that he was quite unbearable. 
He gave himself the most extraordinary airs. 
He would hardly condescend to speak to the other 

[ 93 ] 


The Rainbow Cat 

boys. He even patronised his own father and 
mother. 

“No boy in the whole country is as clever as I,” 
he said. “The King ought to see what I can do. 
I must certainly go to the Court. How they will 
open their eyes!” 

And so one fine day he prepared to set off to 
the Court to show the King what he could do. 

Now the King of that country was a rather 
cantankerous old gentleman, and made short work 
of any one who displeased him. Jan’s mother 
didn’t very much like the idea of his going, but 
Jan would not be dissuaded. 

“You will see, mother,” he said, “I shall come 
home with a bagful of gold, and perhaps the King 
will want me to stay at his Court. When I am 
grown up I shall marry one of the Princesses, and 
you will be able to ride in a golden coach and to 
wear a mantle of blue velvet trimmed with ermine. 
All the neighbours will curtsey to you and call you 
Madam. Wouldn’t you like that?” 

His mother couldn’t imagine that she would 
like that very much, but she thought it was rather 
sweet of Jan to think so much of his mother, and 
she gave him a kiss and one of his father’s best 
linen shirts, and bade him be sure not to get his 
feet wet. 

So Jan set ofif to the palace, and when he got 
there he sent in a message by the beautiful foot- 

[94] 


Jan and the Magic Pencil 

man who opened the door that Jan, the Arith¬ 
metical Wonder, had come to show the Royal 
Family what he could do. It was a dull rainy 
afternoon, and it so happened that the King, 
Queen, and the two Princesses were sitting at 
home in their State apartments feeling rather 
bored. The Lord Chamberlain, who generally 
amused them on wet days by asking them riddles, 
had gone to bed with a very bad cold in his head, 
and they had nothing to do. 

“Shall we have him in?” said the King to the 
Queen. 

“He sounds very dull,” said the younger 
Princess, who was busy making pale blue rosettes 
for her bedroom slippers. 

“Better than nothing,” said her sister, who had 
just finished reading all the love-letters that had 
come by the morning’s post, and was pasting the 
prettiest ones into an album which she kept for 
that purpose. 

So Jan was ushered into the royal apartments, 
and he told the King and Queen of his attain¬ 
ments—how he could do any sum, however diffi¬ 
cult, as quickly as it could be written down, almost 
more quickly, indeed. He was a nice-looking lad 
and he had no end of assurance, and brought with 
him, moreover, letters from all manner of impor¬ 
tant personages who had tested his wonderful 
powers. 


[95] 


The Rainbow Cat 


An attendant was sent to fetch the great Court 
account tablets, which were made of ivory inlaid 
with silver, and the King offered Jan his own 
golden pencil with rubies and diamonds round 
the top. 

“Thank you very much,” said Jan, “I prefer a 
plain slate or a blackboard, and I always use my 
own pencil.” 

“ Prefer, indeed,” said the King, with a great 
black frown. “What business have you to prefer 
anything? Slates and blackboards! I’d have you 
know that this is the King’s Palace and not a vil¬ 
lage schoolhouse. If a gold pencil and ivory tab¬ 
lets are not good enough for you, you can go and 
do your sums on the dungeon walls.” 

Jan was very frightened. He didn’t at all like 
the idea of a dungeon, so there was nothing for it 
but to brave it out as best he might. 

One of the lords-in-waiting was bidden to write 
down the sums, and poor miserable Jan wildly 
scribbled down the answers as fast as he could, 
with the eyes of the King, the Queen and of their 
two lovely daughters and all the lords- and ladies- 
in-waiting riveted upon him. 

But as it happened, the only person at the Court 
who was any good at arithmetic was the Lord 
Chamberlain, and he, as you know, was in bed 
with a cold. It is much easier to put down sums 
than to work them out, and not one member of 

[96] 


Jan and the Magic Pencil 

the Royal Family had the faintest idea as to 
whether Jan’s answers were right or wrong. 

The King looked as wise as he could. “Very 
good, very good,” he kept saying. The Prin¬ 
cesses clapped their hands. They had never been 
able to get their sums right; but after all, what 
does it matter whether a princess can do arith¬ 
metic or not? 

If one or two of the Court ladies and gentle¬ 
men had a suspicion that the figures were not 
quite correct they daren’t suggest such a thing. 
If the King said the answers were right it was 
as much as their lives were worth to say they 
were wrong. But of course Jan knew nothing 
of all this. He wrote on and on, and all the time 
only one thought was in his mind. 

“How wonderful, how wonderful!” he kept 
saying to himself. “I have grown so clever that 
I can do the sums by myself. I shall never need 
to bother again about the stupid old pencil and 
chalk. I really am the cleverest boy in the whole 
kingdom.” 

He did not stay very long at the palace, and 
he was a little disappointed to find that no one 
offered him a post at Court and that he was not 
even presented with a bag of gold pieces. 

Every one thanked him politely and he was 
given a good tea in the housekeeper’s room, and 
the King and Queen shook hands with him and 

[97] 


The Rainbow Cat 


gave him a pretty silver brooch to wear in his cap, 
while the Princesses smiled pleasantly and wished 
him a good journey. 

But he was buoyed up by his wonderful dis¬ 
covery. He went singing along the road, and 
when he presently came to a deep pond he threw 
his slate pencil and his bit of chalk into the middle 
of it, and continued gaily on his way. 

You may imagine how badly he wanted them 
back again the next day, and for many, many 
days after: for of course he was as bad as ever 
at arithmetic, and went straight to the bottom of 
the class, where he stayed. Many times he went 
to the place where he had met the fairy, but she 
never came again, for if you once throw away 
fairy gifts you never, never get them back again. 


[98] 


THIRTEEN 


The Lamb that Went to Fairyland 

T HERE was once a fairy who took a great 
fancy to a tiny white lamb. He really was a 
dear little creature, and I don’t wonder she fell in 
love with him. She used often to come and visit 
him in the meadow where he lived with his 
mother, and she was very anxious to take him to 
a fairy party some evening. 

The little lamb was shy. “What do you do at 
the parties?” he asked. 

“Oh, dance mostly,” said the fairy. 

But the little lamb explained that he didn’t 
know how to dance. 

“I will soon teach you,” said the fairy. 

So she came every evening when her day’s 
work was done and showed the little lamb how 
to dance, and he soon learned to skip about quite 
nicely. 

At last a day came when the fairy took him 
off to the party, but his mother made him promise 
to come back the next morning. She knew the 
ways of the fairies. 

He enjoyed himself tremendously. 

[99] 



The Rainbow Cat 


All the fairies admired him very much. They 
thought his coat so beautifully white and soft, 
they loved his little black nose and quaint woodeny 
legs. He gave them all rides on his back in turn 
(even the Fairy Queen had one), and when the 
time for dancing came he did very well indeed 
and astonished them all with his pretty steps. 
When he left, the Fairy Queen presented him 
with a garland of daisies. “They are fairy 
flowers/' she said. “They will never fade, and 
so long as you wear them you will remain young." 

When the lamb got home he had great tales to 
tell about his happy adventures, so that he became 
quite a celebrity, and every one made such a fuss 
of him that he got rather proud and silly, and 
after a very short time would hardly speak to 
his friends. 

Of course this vexed them very much, and the 
wicked old rat who lived in the mill-pond and was 
always ready to do any one an ill turn, suggested 
a way to pay him out for his pride. “While he is 
asleep I will gnaw through his gay garland that 
he is so proud of," she said, “and when he goes 
out walking he will lose it." All of which hap¬ 
pened just as she had planned. And so the foolish 
lamb lost his fairy garland and grew older like 
any other lamb. 

His friend the fairy did not come to see him 
for some time. She was very busy helping on all 

[ioo] 


Lamb that Went to Fairyland 

the spring things, and had no time for visiting. 
When she did come again she was very disap¬ 
pointed to find that the lamb had grown into quite 
a good-sized sheep, fat and comfortable. His 
wool was no longer downy and white, and he had 
entirely forgotten how to dance. 



“Where is your magic garland ?” said the fairy. 
And he had to confess that he had lost it. 

The fairy went back to her friends. She really 
did not feel that a big solemn sheep would be very 
welcome at their revels. But every year in early 
spring when the new lambs are born, their 
mothers tell them the story of the lamb that was 
invited to Fairyland, and they all go skipping 
about in the meadows practising their dancing 
steps. 


[ioi] 





The Rainbow Cat 


Each of them hopes that he may one day find 
the magic garland, and never grow old and 
staid, and be able to go a-visiting to Fairyland. 
After all, it must be lying about somewhere, so if 
you find it, you’ll know what to do with it, won’t 
you ? But be sure to give it to a lamb with a black 
nose. They’re so much the prettiest. 


[102] 


FOURTEEN 


The Magic Umbrella 

T HERE was once a wizard who possessed a 
magic umbrella; and, being rather careless 
in his habits, he had the misfortune to leave it 
behind him in a small country town where he had 
had an appointment to meet a friend in the 
market-place at midnight. He left it standing 
against one of the wooden market stalls, and there 
it was found next morning by a farmer’s wife 
who had come into town to sell her butter and 
eggs. 

‘That’s a good, strong-looking umbrella,” she 
said to herself; “if no one comes to claim it I 
shall keep it.” No one made any inquiries, so she 
took possession of it, and when she went home in 
the evening, the umbrella went with her. 

Now, as I said before, this was no ordinary 
umbrella, but was possessed of magic powers. 

If you held it open in your hand and counted 
three and then stopped, you found yourself in 
your own house. 

If you counted five, however, you found your¬ 
self where you most desired to be. 

But if you counted up to seven, you were imme- 

[103] 


The Rainbow Cat 

diately carried away to the top of the nearest 
church spire. 

Now of all this the farmer’s wife was quite 
unaware, and you shall hear what befell her in 
consequence. 

It chanced to be very wet on the next market 
day, and when presently the rain began to drip 
upon her bonnet through the canvas roof of the 
stall, she was very glad to be able to put up the 
umbrella and shelter beneath it. 

It was about three o’clock in the afternoon and 
she had sold most of her eggs and butter. 

A little boy came along and asked for three 
fresh eggs. 

“There you are, my love,” she said. “The last 
three.” 

She held the umbrella in one hand and with the 
other put the eggs into the boy’s basket. 

“One, two, three,” she said. And instantly she 
found herself standing in the middle of her own 
pleasant kitchen, with her basket on her arm and 
the open umbrella still firmly held in her hand. 

You can imagine how surprised and puzzled 
she was. She hadn’t the faintest idea how she 
had got there, but she decided to say nothing 
about it to any one. 

When presently her husband came in for his 
tea he asked why she had come home so early. 

[104] 


“I think 


The Magic Umbrella 

“I had a bit of a headache,” she said, 
the sun was too strong for me.” 

The farmer gave a great guffaw. “Come, 
come, mother,” he said, “you must have been 
dreaming. There’s been no sun to-day, neither 
in town nor country.” 



“Well, maybe it was the damp that got into my 
head,” said his wife. “I think I’ll go to bed and 
have a basin of hot gruel.” So she went to bed 
and had the hot gruel, and by the next morning 
she had almost forgotten all about her queer 
adventure. 

Nothing more happened for some time. The 
weather was warm and sunny, and the umbrella 
stood unused in the corner of the kitchen. 

[105] 





The Rainbow Cat 


But one day the farmer’s wife decided to go 
and see her daughter, who was married and lived 
in a village a few miles away. It was a very hot 
day and she thought it would be a good plan to 
take the umbrella with her to shade her from 
the sun. 

After dinner she and her daughter went for a 
walk upon a neighbouring common, and when 
they had gone a little way they sat down for a 
rest on a warm dry bit of grass by the side of 
the road that ran across the heath, for they were 
hot and rather tired. 

“What a lot of motor-cars there are on this 
road, to be sure,” said the farmer’s wife, who 
held the open umbrella over her head. “One, 
two, three, four, five. ... I wish I was in one 
of them.” No sooner had she uttered these words 
than she found herself plumped right into the 
middle of the nearest car, in which were sitting 
an old lady and gentleman and a fat spaniel, all 
fast asleep. 

You can imagine what a scene there was. The 
dog barked, the old lady and gentleman were 
furious. 

“Stop, stop,” they cried to the chauffeur, who 
was driving on quite calmly and taking no notice 
at all of the noise going on behind him. 

As for the farmer’s wife, she was so aston¬ 
ished that she could not say anything at all. 

[106] 


The Magic Umbrella 

“What next?” stormed the old gentleman, 
foaming with rage. “What next, I should like 
to know ? How dare you get into our car ? How 
dare you, madam? What are we coming to? A 
pretty state of affairs when a man can’t go for a 
ride in his own car without being molested by 
impertinent strangers! Scandalous, scandalous! 
I shall report it to the police.” 

The farmer’s wife had by this time managed 
to get out of the car, but she was so bewildered 
that she was still unable to speak, and long after 
the angry gentleman had driven off with his wife 
and his dog, she stood silent and motionless in 
the middle of the road with the umbrella in her 
hand, wide open, and with her mouth wide open 
too. Her daughter, who came hurrying up, was 
also very much astonished. 

“What on earth made you do that, mother?” 
she said. “I couldn’t believe my own eyes.” 

But her mother could only shake her head. 
She couldn’t make it out at all. Never, never 
had such an extraordinary thing befallen her. 

“I am afraid I can’t be very well,” she said at 
last. “I think I’ll go and see the doctor to-mor¬ 
row.” So the next day she went to see the 
doctor. It was rather showery and she took the 
umbrella again, for she had never thought of con¬ 
necting it with the strange things which had 

[107] 


The Rainbow Cat 

occurred. The doctor felt her pulse and looked 
at her tongue. 

“You’ve got a touch of Thingumabobitis, ,, he 
said. “You must be very careful. I’ll write you 
a few prescriptions. You must take a pill every 
three hours, and a pink powder every two hours, 
and a blue powder half an hour before every 
meal, and you must never on any account let your 
nose get cold. It’s not dangerous so long as you 
are careful. Come again next week.” 

By this time the sun had come out, and as she 
was much taken up with wondering how she was 
going to keep her nose warm, the farmer’s wife 
forgot all about the umbrella. Next day, when 
she went to fetch it, it was gone. I don’t know 
what happened to it, nor who has it now. But 
let me give you a word of warning. If you come 
across a stray umbrella, pray be careful not to do 
any counting while you have it open in your hand. 
It wouldn’t be very pleasant to find yourself sud¬ 
denly hanging from the top of the nearest church 
steeple, now would it? 


[108] 


FIFTEEN 


The Fourth Adventure of the Rainbow 

Cat 

B Y this time the Rainbow Cat was getting a 
little tired of travelling about, and decided 
that he would' go home and have a good rest after 
his many exertions. But on the way back he had 
to pass through the Ever After country, and the 
people who lived there were most pressing in their 
request that he should spend a little time with 
them. 

The Ever After country is inhabited by all the 
Fairy Tale and Nursery Rhyme people, who go 
to live there when their adventures are over. 

Cinderella and her prince have a beautiful 
castle there, where the glass slipper is kept on a 
red velvet cushion in a little gilt cabinet, and 
shown to distinguished visitors. Cinderella never 
had another pair; she said they were very un¬ 
comfortable, and 6f course she was always afraid 
some one might tread on her toes. 

Her two disagreeable sisters have a little house 
of their own. They have taken to gardening, and 
keep bees and chickens, and are altogether im- 

[109] 


The Rainbow Cat 

mensely improved, so that everybody is quite 
fond of them. 

They are rather sensitive about their past, and 
are both, alas! a little lame, because, as you will 
remember, they cut pieces off their feet in order 
to make them smaller. 

Snow-White, too, lives in a castle with her 
husband. The seven dwarfs have a fine carpen¬ 
ter's shop on the estate, where they are kept very 
busy indeed. 

They make the most lovely little chairs and 
tables for Snow-White's children, and do most of 
the work of that kind required by the dwellers in 
the Ever After land. 

Red-Riding-Hood and her grandmother have 
a pretty cottage close to that of Cinderella’s sis¬ 
ters. Red-Riding-Hood often runs in to have a 
chat with them, and they are very kind about 
sending in honey and eggs for the old lady. 

Of course, there are many, many more people. 
Jack the Giant-Killer, who has grown rather fat 
and lazy, but loves to talk about all his great 
fights; Little Miss Muffet, who is still a bit afraid 
of spiders; Boy Blue, Mother Hubbard, Aladdin 
—it would take me all day to mention half of 
them, but they are all there, not one is missing. 

The Rainbow Cat stayed with Fatima, Blue¬ 
beard’s last wife, who lives with the two brothers 
who saved her life by their valour. 

[no] 


X 


The Fourth Adventure 

Poor Fatima has never quite got over the 
dreadful shock she had when she discovered the 
other wives all hanging up, and she can’t so much 
as bear the sight of a bunch of keys. 

As usual, the Rainbow Cat was most kindly 



welcomed and was introduced to all the important 
people in the place. 

They are altvays delighted to see strangers, as 
sometimes they feel that things are a little dull 
after the exciting adventures many of them have 
been through. 

On the third day after his arrival he was 
invited to a great banquet at the palace of the 
Queen of Hearts. 


cm] 
















The Rainbow Cat 

It was a most wonderful banquet. 

The Rainbow Cat wore his best bow, his danc¬ 
ing-shoes, and the gold collar which the giantess 
had given him. He took his mandolin with him; 
it had been most useful to him on several occa¬ 
sions, and it seemed a pity to leave it behind. 

He met a number of friends at the party. 

Puss-in-Boots, for instance, and the Pussy-cat 
who went to London to visit the Queen. 

Dick Whittington's cat was there too, but he 
gave himself great airs. It seems it wasn’t really 
quite certain whether he was a fairy-tale cat at 
all. Some people thought he was real. 

It was silly of him to be so stuck-up about it, 
but it only amused the Rainbow Cat. 

They were about half-way through the banquet 
when there was a slight pause. The meat course 
was finished, and everybody was waiting for the 
sweets. At that moment a servant came quietly 
in and whispered to the Queen. She became 
deadly pale, and half rose in her seat. 

“What is the matter, your Majesty?” said the 
Rainbow Cat, who sat in the place of honour at 
her right hand. 

“He’s done it again,” said the Queen in a low, 
horrified whisper, sinking weakly down again 
into her chair. 

“Who has done what?” said the Rainbow Cat. 

“The Knave—stolen the tarts!” said the Queen 

[II2] 


The Fourth Adventure 

with an agonised look. “They're nowhere to be 
found. It’s all my fault. He begged so hard to 
be taken on again that I gave him another chance. 
Oh! why did I trust him?” 

“Isn’t there anything else?” asked the Rainbow 
Cat. 

“Nothing ready,” replied the Queen. “You 
see, they’re very special tarts. I make them my¬ 
self. Every one thinks so much of them. What 
shall I do?” 

“Don’t worry,” said the Rainbow Cat. “Send 
round to all the pastry-cooks’ for anything they 
have ready, and meanwhile I’ll sing a song to fill 
up the time.” 

The Queen was much relieved at this sugges¬ 
tion, and gave orders that messengers should be 
dispatched immediately to buy up all the available 
tarts in the place. 

Meanwhile the Master of Ceremonies was bid¬ 
den to announce that their distinguished visitor, 
the Rainbow Cat, had kindly promised to sing a 
song, and wished to know whether the guests 
would like to hear it at this moment or later on. 

This was a very clever idea, for of course 
people were bound in politeness to say they wished 
to hear the song immediately. 

Thereupon the Rainbow Cat took his mandolin 
and prepared to sing, the whole company being 
requested to join in the chorus after each verse. 

[113] 


The Rainbow Cat 


They were all delighted with this suggestion, 
and they all sang, whether they had any voice 
or not. 

They enjoyed it so much that they quite for¬ 
got that they hadn't finished the banquet. At 
least they almost forgot. 

Here is the 9ong: 


THE RHYME OF THE GNOME WITH A 
SCOLDING WIFE 

Once upon a time, 

When guinea-pigs had tails, 

And people talked in rhyme, 

And rivers ran on rails, 

There lived a little gnome 
Who’d such a scolding wife, 

At last he ran away from home, 

He couldn’t stand the life. 

Chorus. There lived a little gnome, etc. 

She scolded all day long 
From morning until night, 

And she was never wrong 
And he was never right. 

Oh! she could bake and bile, 

And she could clean and mend, 

But since she scolded all the while, 

He left her in the end. 

Chorus. Oh! she could bake and bile, etc. 

He thought he’d found a way 
At last to be at peace, 

But still, to his dismay, 

His troubles did not cease. 

He didn’t like his meals, 

[114] 


The Fourth Adventure 

His washing wasn’t right, 

His socks were always out at heels, 

His shirts a fearful sight. 

Chorus. He didn’t like his meals, etc. 

By the end of the third verse the Queen was 
looking very strained and anxious, and the Rain¬ 
bow Cat himself was beginning to feel rather 
nervous. His song had only four verses, and he 
wasn’t at all sure that he would be asked to sing 
another. He was afraid that people would 
remember their unfinished dinner as soon as he 
stopped. 

So he began the fourth verse very slowly. But 
before he had got half-way through, he saw three 
servants standing between the curtains of the 
great doorway of the banqueting hall with enor¬ 
mous golden dishes piled up with most magnifi¬ 
cent-looking tarts. 

“My tarts,” he heard the Queen murmur in an 
excited voice, and then he knew that everything 
was well. 

So he finished his song at a great pace, and the 
last chorus was sung with much enthusiasm, for 
the other guests had also seen the waiting tarts, 
and were eager to begin on them. 

This is the last verse of his song: 

“Assuredly,” thought he, 

“Her temper is a curse, 

And yet it seems to me 
That this is rather worse.” 

[ns] 


The Rainbow Cat 


So home he went once more 
In philosophic mood, 

And though his wife still vexed him sore, 

He did enjoy his food. 

Chorus. So home he went once more, etc. 

The song was very much applauded, and every 
one then fell upon the tarts with an appetite which 
the slight delay had pleasantly renewed. 

It turned out afterwards that it was all a mis¬ 
take about the Knave. 

The head cook had put the tarts away on the 
top shelf of the larder for safety. But he was a 
poet as well as a cook, and just before the moment 
arrived when the tarts should have been served 
up, a perfectly beautiful little verse came into his 
head, and he rushed off to a quiet spot to write it 
down, quite confident that the under-cook would 
be able to look after the rest of the banquet. 

And that's how it came about that suspicion 
fell upon the poor Knave; for when the tarts 
could not be found, every one naturally supposed 
that he had stolen them again. 

When the cook had written down his verse and 
made a few little improvements in it, he returned 
to the kitchen and found everything in an uproar 
because of the missing tarts. 

He arrived in the nick of time, for the mes¬ 
sengers were returning almost empty-handed 
from the pastry-cooks’ shops. They had made 

[n6] 


The Fourth Adventure 

very little pastry that day because they knew that 
every one would be at the banquet and that they 
would have no sale for their wares. 

Of course, later on, the cook had to give an 
explanation of his carelessness, and he was 
removed from his position. 

But as his verses were even better than his 
dishes, he was made Court Poet instead, and he 
liked that much better, though he occasionally 
lent a hand in the kitchen when they were very 
busy. 

The Queen was most grateful to the Rainbow 
Cat for his timely help; and every year, on his 
birthday, she sent him a box of tarts made by her 
own hands especially for him. 

He stayed only a day or two in the Ever After 
land after the banquet. Then he packed up his 
belongings, bade good-bye to all his kind friends, 
and set off for his home. 

He was glad to be back in his own little house, 
and delighted all his friends with his account of 
his travels. 

But he had no intention of settling down for 
ever, and I hope to be able some day to tell you 
more of the adventures that befell him upon his 
further journeyings. 















V. 








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